Sue Szwed is one those women who seem like they can do anything. As a partner with the Southern Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District, we offer her apple trees during the annual tree sale and have drawn on her fruit growing knowledge to lead classes and be a part of the planning committee for Aroostook Apple Day held in October.
When I met her recently at her and her husband Mitch Lansky’s home in Reed Plantation, she was in their nearly-constructed greenhouse potting up vegetable seedlings.
The sun was out, there was a gentle breeze, the blackflies hadn’t yet woken up and it felt positively idyllic. However, as most who get their hands in the dirt know, that idyll takes a lot of hard work. For Mitch and Sue, it began in the 1970s when they came to Maine and, pulled by the desire to create a working homestead, they began making this parcel of land into their home and establishing a connection to place and the natural world around it. Growing up in rural New Hampshire, Sue said she spent a lot of time exploring in the woods and grew up feeling comfortable in the natural world. She chose to continue in that direction when she got older, although she recognizes she was “still a kid at heart” when she came to Maine.
Part of the attraction to living on the land was to learn skills that fostered independence, “simple” healthy living, and care for the land — building their own home, figuring out how to heat and cook with wood, and learning to garden to feed her family. On fulfilling these old Maine traditions, Sue humbly remarks that she has become “a jack of all, master of none.” Over the past 23 years Sue has worked as a Maine guide, taking groups on cross country ski and canoe trips, doing programs with foster teens and as an illustrator. She is also a weaver, knitter, farmer, grandmother, community member and much more.
Fourteen years ago she and Mitch started Seek No Further Fruit Tree Nursery, grafting and growing fruit trees to sell wholesale to Fedco. Since then they have added elderberry bushes, grape plants, and garlic to the list of what they sell. Because they are off the beaten path they grow a limited number of trees for local sales but do offer quite a few different hardy, tasty, new and old apple varieties for cooking, eating, and storage, and sometimes pear and plum trees.
The meadow in back of their house is fenced to keep animals out of the many gardens containing newly grafted fruit trees, one-year old trees, and vegetable plots. As we walked through the established orchard, Sue pointed out each tree like an intimate friend, knowing the varieties and indicating a particular tree where a new graft had been attached. It was a little like the visits she and Mitch took to old farms with orchards when they moved to Reed. She said the local farmers inspired them with their knowledge and delight with the natural world. She told me about one farmer who would pull into their place occasionally on Sunday afternoons. While he might not get out of the truck he would take notice of what spring birds had arrived or wonder aloud about an old apple tree and if it had been bear-planted.
Those farmers who introduced Sue to local apple varieties from their orchards and inspired her would be overjoyed to know that she and Mitch have become to others what they once were to them. Sue provides inspiration to many from starting an orchard (no matter what age you are) to establishing a connection to place with their two grandkids, who live in Boston but spend many vacations and summers at Mitch and Sue’s, gardening and hiking and swimming and splitting wood and all of the other daily activities that take place when living as best as possible off the land. The grandkids grafted an apple tree that will be bearing fruit this year, continuing the cycle of knowledge.
Sue’s granddaughter stated it best when she announced while helping build the greenhouse over April vacation, “You know, Grandma, I don’t know any other kids’ grandmothers who can do stuff like this.” Seek No Further Fruit Tree Nursery will have fall sales of fruit trees available and may be reached at 456-7018.
Angie Wotton loves her work as district manager for the Southern Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District. She also raises pastured pork and vegetables with her husband on their small West Berry Farm in Hammond. She can be reached 5329407 or via email at angela.wotton@me.nacdnet.net
