Introducing the People
who Bring Local Foods
& Products to the Co-op
Five Star Nursery & Orchard
Looking out over the towering peach and apple trees of Leslie Cummins’ and Tim Seabrook’s orchard, it’s hard to believe this was a forested landscape in the not-too-distant past.
The oceanfront parcel in Brooklin was cleared in the late seventies when the two budding farmers met locally and found they both enjoyed raising their own food. A small garden and a handful of fruit trees were planted before the couple had even built a house to live in.
That winter, the two found a caretaking job just down the road at E.B. White’s homestead. They admired and sampled the apples from old varieties of trees that grew there. Wanting to find a way to grow these heirlooms on their own burgeoning orchard, that spring Tim grafted and raised their first whips.
They hung signs at a couple of general stores to sell their fruit. Their nursery had begun! After years of trial and error, Leslie and Tim have now perfected their techniques and have developed many types of hearty apple and peach trees that will produce well in this coastal climate.
They sell their MOFGA-certified trees in the spring from their farm at 853 Bay Road in Brooklin and through Fedco Seeds.
Their seedlings, cider, fruit and vinegar can be found, in season, at the Co-op and at several local farmers’ markets. Recently, they erected their cider house and rebuilt the apple press that can even be used to press the bounty from your own small orchard next autumn when the smell of fresh-ripened apples drifts through the air again.
Allison Watters
