PALERMO -- When John Bunker arrived in Palermo 36 years ago, he was a "dumb kid from the suburbs" who didn't know anything about farming.

But it wasn't long before he learned to appreciate the ancient apple orchards that graced the hillsides of this small Kennebec County community.

Bunker, 57, said the beautiful old trees covered with fruit didn't know the days of the small, diverse farms were over. As far as they were concerned, it was business as usual.

"They continued to pump out these beautiful crops of apples and they were surprised when their owners didn't come pick them any more," Bunker said. "They were in Augusta working for the state or in Waterville working at Hathaway and in Winslow working for Scott Paper.

"So they were glad when a kid from the suburbs came and picked their fruit. I would stop and knock on people's doors and they'd say, 'Oh yeah, take what you want.' So I started picking fruit."

Since moving to a 180-acre wood lot that he purchased with two friends the day after graduating from Colby College, Bunker has spent hundreds of hours climbing apple trees around town, collecting, storing and eating fruit; pressing cider; learning to identify the varieties; grafting young trees; and listening to stories from the old-timers.

Bunker became interested in what he calls "fruit exploring" and traveled around Maine looking for lost, neglected and abandoned apples.

Palermo's Johnny Appleseed recently published "Not Far From The Tree: A Brief History of the Apples and the Orchards of Palermo, Maine 1804-2004."

"I thought it would be interesting and that people might appreciate it," said Bunker, who serves on the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association board of directors. "And (the ancient apple orchards are) being lost."

The soft-covered book is illustrated with his own drawings, including maps of the orchards and detailed diagrams of the historic varieties.

Shelia McCarty's family owns Fosters Farm. The town clerk said Bunker traded grafts from their trees for a map of their orchards. On the map he drew, Bunker identified the different varieties, including crab apple, fameuse, pumpkin sweet and winter banana.

Originally, the Turner Ridge Road farm had about 103 trees. In 1939, the farm was left with 85 trees; in 2004, there were 57.

"I bought one of the books for my mother for Christmas," McCarty said. "I think the book preserves a lot of local history. It's wonderful to see the trees be documented with some of the varieties that John said are going to be extinct."

Bunker, employed by Fedco Seeds in Waterville, said Palermo wasn't known for its apple production, but every farm had an orchard, from a dozen trees to more than a hundred. Intrigued with the diversity of colors and sizes and shapes, he learned how to graft the different varieties collected from around Palermo. He planted those varieties in his own orchard and now has more than 100 trees.

"The reason why I picked Palermo to write this book is because it is where I live, not the apple capital of Maine by any stretch of the imagination," he said. "For the best apple growing, you have to go elsewhere. To Turner, west of Augusta. Winthrop was a big apple-growing area and further north up towards Farmington and some places in southern Maine as well."

Kempton Tobey, 84 years young, drove around Palermo with Bunker on two occasions in search of the old orchards. He especially enjoyed reading the comments in Bunker's book from "old-timers."

Tobey said he once owned a 600-acre farm with orchards.

"There aren't too many big ones left, most of the (apple) varieties have died off," Tobey said. "There's still quite a number of trees in town, but not like it used to be. I pulled my trees out. I thought it would be easier to hay. I wish I hadn't now. I wish I had conserved them."

Millard Howard, resident and local historian, said Bunker did an outstanding job identifying and illustrating the old apple orchards. Howard said he still has an old Duchess apple tree, in poor condition, near the back corner of his house on Level Hill Road.

"Farmers largely had self-sufficient food supplies, but they did have to produce some surplus for income and apples was a significant product for them to sell," Howard said. "I personally remember no longer selling apples but still having enough to use. And most everyone had enough to press a barrel of cider for the winter."

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, Ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com