Last winter I had the opportunity to cut "scion" wood from an heirloom golden delicious apple tree in nearby Mahoenui, grafting it onto rootstock here at Struan Farm. A lady named Hester has several old fruit trees growing on her property on Gribbon Road along the Awakino River, and invited me to come have a look and try to propagate whatever I wanted.
This particular Golden Delicious apple is crisp and yes, delicious. Not at all like modern Golden Delicious, which I find rather mushy. But what intrigued me more was this apple's heritage. The tree had been moved from its original home at the hut of a man named Peter Nilsen, a Norwegian immigrant who lived further down Gribbon Road near Leitch's Clearing. It's a place that is still quite remote today, and would have been considerably more so then.
I'd never grafted a fruit tree before, so this was an experiment in more ways than one. I'm pleased to report that my two attempts were both successful, thankfully. I'd like to think this was because the scion wood came from a very special tree that needed to perpetuate its story.
In our home library we have a book called "Waitanguru," compiled by Stan Frederickson and published by the Waitanguru Jubilee Committee in 1990. The book purports to be a "collection of memories depicting optimism, disaster and progress of the Waitanguru, Mangaotaki, Ngapaenga and Mairoa districts," all located in the wider Piopio area.
There's a chapter written by Cedric Verry, with his recollections on the story of Leitch's Clearing, that provides some information on Peter. Hester referred to him as "Peter the Hermit," and remembers her late husband Russell helping to remove Peter's body from his home after he died.
Peter and his two brothers emigrated to New Zealand from Norway before the war, taking up a bush section on the Awakino River. After starting to clear the land and building a bach it became too difficult and they walked off the land, a common occurrence at that time. Peter returned to the area circa 1940 working on the roads, and spent weekends opening up the track back to the old hut. The land, along with that of other abandoned farms, had become state forest. After Peter gave up his job in 1943 he went to live in the hut, clearing some land to graze sheep. While the Forestry Department were not happy and tried to move him off the land, he lived there until his death in 1962. Hester and Russell subsequently moved his apple trees to their place down the road.
Here's a photo of the hut:
This winter we moved and planted out the two trees, which I've christened "Peter's Golden Apples," in a newly fenced paddock with our chook house. Hopefully the trees will survive and thrive, with the chooks taking care of any codling moths if they dare come near these special trees.
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