Leopold Center - Aldo's apple tree lives on, thanks to Iowa orchardist

It’s hard to keep up with Harold Linder when he is walking his orchard. It’s not that he moves fast – although even at age 91, he’s plenty spry. It’s more that he’s so full – full of stories, full of information, full of ideas, and full of plans. Linder has spent a lifetime working with trees and plants, and there’s plenty still to do.

On his farm east of Sperry in southeast Iowa, Linder keeps an orchard of more than 100 trees. He knows every tree, where it came from, when it was planted, what kind of apples it produces, and which ones make the best sauce. Among his trees is one he calls the Burlington Leopold.

Linder was a friend of Frederick Leopold, older brother of the famed conservationist Aldo (and Leopold Center namesake). The Leopold family orchard was at the home where Aldo and Frederick grew up in Burlington, Iowa on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in an area known as Vinegar Hill. On a visit to the Leopold orchard in 1974, Linder noticed a particular tree with an unusual shape that made it a favorite for neighborhood children to play in. “It was an old snag of a tree,” he remembers, and Frederick thought it was more than 100 years old at the time.

Tree has distinctive shape

The tree was part of the orchard when the Leopolds bought it, and Frederick did not know its origin. Linder was intrigued by the tree’s age and shape, and went back later for a graft, which he planted in his own orchard. It has outlived the original tree (the Leopold family orchard is long gone) and still produces over two bushels of red apples each fall. They are mild flavored, similar to MacIntosh, and good for both cooking and eating. Linder believes the Leopold tree matches the description he’s heard of an old Burlington apple, and he thinks this may be the original. The Leopold tree is easy to spot in Harold’s orchard, too; it has an unusual shape, a bent limb low to the ground as if to invite children to climb.

Linder’s orchard, stretching in orderly rows along a sunny hillside north of his house, has trees in every stage of growth, from new starts planted last year to gnarly trees that he’s tended for years. Among them is a graft from the original Hawkeye Delicious, the Iowa parent tree of the now-ubiquitous Red Delicious. Freedom, Duchess, Isaac Newton, Wolf River, Chenango Strawberry – each tree has a story. Two young trees he calls “Schoolkid” apples because they were planted by local schoolchildren. There are familiar standards, too – Macoun, Jonathan, Liberty.

Linder loves apple trees, and he’s not stuffy about their pedigree. He’s more interested in studying their properties – are they disease and insect resistant, do they thrive in Iowa’s weather, do they produce early or late, are the apples tasty? Any tree is worth investigating and nurturing if it promises to add to the body of knowledge he’s acquired over seven decades.

Linder also writes about apples

Much of what Linder knows about apples has been compiled in a just-completed book manuscript to be published this year. He writes when he’s not tending trees, his large garden, his fish pond, and the plants in his greenhouse. He’s authored several books on local history, and his living room is stacked with books and papers from his research.

A computer in one corner helps Linder to keep in touch with a network of friends and orchardists, and exchange tips on propagating walnut trees as well as other trees. The only spot in the room quiet of activity is the empty chair where his wife Mildred always sat – she passed away in February after a long illness, and keeping busy is one way to cope with how much he misses her.

The careful art of grafting and propagating trees is second nature to Linder after so many years, and his cutting knife is always handy. His hands are still steady and sure as he demonstrates several ways to trim and graft freshly cut twigs onto root stock. He takes cuttings each year, and several years ago donated a Leopold apple tree to the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa. The tree now flourishes in the Heritage Orchard there, among the large collection of heirloom fruit trees.

Orchard preserves more than trees

Linder’s orchard is a rich repository, not only of apples but of knowledge about trees and history. A friend from Burlington helps with the trees and is learning as much as he can from Linder, but no one in his family is likely to take over and it’s not clear what will happen to the orchard.

Dozens of orchards just like Linder’s are tucked away around the state. He can name half a dozen orchards within 30 miles that have gone out of business in recent years; only one is still operated by the sons of the original owner. These nearly-forgotten orchards and the heirloom varieties they maintain may hold clues to restoring the diversity of Iowa’s once-thriving apple industry.

Apples keep Linder busy, and they keep him healthy. He makes himself an apple salad for dinner, and eats at least one apple before bedtime. A cool storeroom keeps a ready supply for most of the year. In mid-March, when the ground outside was frosty and the trees not yet budded, Linder sent visitors home with a sack of apples, still crisp after a winter in storage.

Then he headed back out to the orchard, where there is always plenty to do.

*Susan Futrell is a writer and consultant from Iowa City who specializes in marketing of local and organic foods. In addition to researching the Burlington apple for the Leopold Center, Futrell has studied the potential for Iowa's Muscatine melons as a place-based food. She also is coordinating three new categories for judging heirloom fruit and vegetables at the Iowa State Fair in August.