"An aspiring homesteader, Bussey started with about a dozen heirloom apple trees on the four-acre grounds where he also hoped to build a house. When the trees bore fruit, yielding Golden Sweets and Spitzenbergs (rumored to be Thomas Jefferson’s favorite apple), their rich flavors were epiphanic. “Oh my god, it was phenomenal!” Bussey says, of the aromatic Spitzenberg’s sweet-tart taste. Soon, he was growing over 350 varieties in the orchard. In a lively example of his impetus for botanical acquisitions, Bussey says the orchard was well under way before he had even started construction on his house. “Priorities!” he says, chuckling.
At the time, he found little consolidated information about the heirlooms in his orchard, so he began keeping a record of his own findings, gathered during archival dives at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He bought a computer with a 40-megabyte hard drive, solely to compile his data. “My watch probably has more information in it than that,” he says. "
At the time, he found little consolidated information about the heirlooms in his orchard, so he began keeping a record of his own findings, gathered during archival dives at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He bought a computer with a 40-megabyte hard drive, solely to compile his data. “My watch probably has more information in it than that,” he says. "