apple detectives

In this Oct. 23, 2019, photo, apples collected by amateur botanists David Benscoter and EJ Brandt of the Lost Apple Project, rest on the ground in an orchard at an abandoned homestead near Genesee, Idaho. Benscoter and Brandt recently learned that their work in the fall of 2019 has led to the rediscovery of 10 apple varieties in the Pacific Northwest that were planted by long-ago pioneers and had been thought extinct. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus)

North America once had 17,000 named varieties of domesticated apples, but only about 4,500 are known to exist today. The Lost Apple Project believes settlers planted a few hundred varieties in their corner of the Pacific Northwest alone as they moved across the U. S. West to try their hands at the pioneer life.

Apple pie ... one of my faves.

And you thought "Johnny Appleseed" was just another tall American tale.