Retirement from the FBI gave Washington native Dave Benscoter plenty of time on his hands in 2012.
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Retirement → give → 2012
Little did he know that a routine day of yard work would eventually lead him on a more than decade-long quest to rediscover apples that had all but vanished from the Pacific Northwest.
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that → know → Northwest
Benscoter was helping a fellow parishioner from his church with some yard work when he noticed something unusual about the apple trees in her orchard.
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he → help → orchard
The varieties looked unlike any apples he had encountered before.
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he → look → apples
“So I gave her a call, and I said, ‘Do you know what kind of apple trees are in your orchard?’”
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kind → give → orchard
Benscoter recalled during an appearance on the Evergreen Thumb podcast last November.
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Benscoter → recall → podcast
The woman could identify some of the trees.
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woman → identify → trees
“And she said, ‘Well, I know the very top ones were named Yellow Transparent.
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ones → say → ?
They’re the very first apple that ripens in the year, in July.’
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that → ’re → July
Another row contained Wealthy apples, an older variety notable for being the first apple ever bred in the United States.
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row → contain → States
But beyond those, the identity of the remaining trees remained a mystery.
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identity → remain → trees
“But she didn’t know the rest of the apples,” Benscoter said.
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Benscoter → know → apples
“So I jumped online, and I just basically started going down rabbit holes.”
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I → jump → holes
From FBI agent to ‘apple detective’
A retirement hobby became a decade-long quest to bring historic apples back from the brink.
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hobby → become → brink
That internet search soon developed into an unlikely obsession.
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search → develop → obsession
Benscoter began researching apple varieties that had once been cultivated across the Pacific Northwest but were increasingly difficult to find.
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that → begin → Northwest
He searched through nature studies, family recipes, county fair newspapers and other historical records, looking for clues that could lead him to what enthusiasts call “lost apples.”
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enthusiasts → search → what
His search eventually brought him together with Joanie Cooper and Sean Shepherd of Oregon’s Temperate Orchard Conservancy.
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search → bring → Conservancy
The two, who Benscoter describes as “apple identification experts,” helped analyze the DNA of unusual specimens and determine their identities.
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Benscoter → describe → identities
“The first year we found one — it was the Fall Jenneting,” Benscoter said.
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Benscoter → find → one
“Now we have found 30 once-lost varieties.”
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we → find → varieties
The discoveries did not stop there.
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discoveries → stop → ?
Along with his friend E.J. Brandt, Benscoter created the Lost Apple Project, turning their retirement years into a mission to locate and preserve historic apple trees.
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Benscoter → create → trees
Since 2012, the two have searched eastern Washington, western Idaho and northern Oregon for apple trees dating back to before 1920.
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two → search → 1920
Preserving apples that history nearly forgot
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history → preserve → that
The Lost Apple Project is not simply about finding unusual fruit.
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Project → find → fruit
The nonprofit also works to ensure that rediscovered varieties survive for future generations.
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varieties → work → generations
Brandt and Benscoter search for rare trees, collect apple specimens during the fall and have them identified.
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them → search → fall
During winter, they return to the orchards to graft branches and propagate the varieties, helping grow new “heritage” trees.
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they → return → trees
Their discoveries have included varieties with names as unusual as the apples themselves, including the Streaked Pippin, Sary Sinap and Nero.
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discoveries → include → Pippin
But one particular discovery has remained especially memorable for Benscoter because of the personal connection behind it.
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discovery → remain → it
He recalled a farmer in Arkansas who had spent years hoping to find a Kittageskee apple, a variety that had once been grown in the state but had disappeared.
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that → recall → state
“10 years ago, he was going to be retiring soon, and his one regret was that he had spent his whole life hoping to come across the Kittageskee [apple] that was grown in Arkansas, and unfortunately, he’d never found it
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he → go → it
,” Benscoter said.
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Benscoter → say → ?
Then, roughly two years later, the search produced an unexpected breakthrough.
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search → produce → breakthrough
Benscoter and his team found Kittageskee apples in southern Idaho.
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Benscoter → find → Idaho
“The Lost Apple Project has members down in the Boise area, and somebody picked those apples and sent them in.
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somebody → have → them
I know it made him incredibly happy,” Benscoter said.
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Benscoter → know → ?
“It was an apple that he thought he’d never be able to taste, and so that kind of stands out for me.
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that → think → me
For Benscoter, what began as curiosity during a day of post-retirement yard work has grown into a long-running conservation effort.
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began → begin → effort
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
