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In the Orchard
Dwight Miller's sudden death provokes thoughts about survival
by Edie Clark
I felt true sadness this morning when I saw a notice in the local paper about the death of Dwight Miller, Jr., a veritable icon in the northern world of fruits and vegetables. When I lived closer to Miller's orchard in Dummerston, Vermont, I used to go there to pick apples in the fall or even later, as he had a cold apple warehouse and up until the very dead of winter, you could go and buy a bag of crisp Macs or Macouns, which was always worth the trip up his long dirt road. I sometimes did that on my lunch hour, as I worked at a print shop nearby.
Apparently, yesterday, Mr. Miller was trimming grass at the edge of his driveway when his truck rolled backward and pinned him there, killing him. According to the paper, he was 84. I remember him as a cheerful man who was known as a consummate orchardist and sometimes called the "Peach King" of Vermont. His orchards were organic and the oldest of his trees, which stretched out across acres and acres of hilly terrain, were planted in the 19th century. All this on land his forebears kept as a dairy farm. It was Miller's father who planted the trees on the rolling Vermont hills and Miller himself who kept them.
I don't know any further details about this tragic accident but it does seem ironic, to say the least that sometime around lunch, this man who has worked outdoors all his life, and to whom a pickup truck is an invaluable tool and friend, should be struck down by same. Sudden and final.
I also realized, as I was reading this notice that yesterday at about the same time, I was out picking peaches in another orchard, one further north in the same river valley. I have not gone to pick at an orchard in years. The orchard where I was picking is new, by Miller's standards, and created not only to be a farm but also a destination, where people can come and pick and events can be staged. The peaches were ripe when we arrived and a big green John Deere tractor hitched to the wagon of an old fire truck carried several of us with our baskets to where the trees were loaded with ripe peaches.
As we approached, the fragrance of peaches overtook us and stayed with us while we picked. The ground was littered with the big, juicy fruits, hazardous as banana peels beneath our feet as we eagerly moved around the trees, testing each fruit for their ripeness and readiness to be picked. Understandably, these beautiful pink and orange creations are the symbol for the state of Georgia but, in recent years, they have become more reliable up here in the north country.
As a diversion, I will say that I have never had a lot of luck with fruit trees. By that I mean that I have lived in various places where I always plant apples or peaches and the trees do well, but then I move, usually before there is a harvest of the fruits for which we wait so long anyway. This year, I went to buy a peach tree. I was looking for a Reliance Peach, which is the variety that does well in this harsh zone. But the plantsman I visited had only Elbertas, which I had never heard of. "Are you sure it will do OK in this zone," I asked. "Well," he replied, "Elbertas didn't used to be hardy enough for our climate here but they have tested these and they've changed the zones now. That's global warming for you."
So I took a chance and brought it home and planted it where the old barn once stood. It joined two Macoun trees in the space that was left by the old structure. So, anyway, with this fledgling tree behind my house, I have not yet experienced this peach bounty which was all around us yesterday. While we picked, we talked about other orchards, the good old ones, and I thought about Miller's orchard which used to be the only orchard I ever went to. I remember especially those trips there in near-winter, when Mr. Miller would be in the cold warehouse, ready to take my money for the bag of apples I had selected.
Reader Comments
Comment from Barbara Fitzgerald on September 1, 2008
How quickly the memories of "Apple Dora" came flooding back when I read your essay. I remember riding with my father to Apple Dora's home (in the '50's and '60's), where she had boxes of apples stored during the autumn in outdoor sheds. The apples would keep through the cold season, in our basement. Nothing was ever so tastey...even though we could afford only the least expensive picked over fruit. They seemed to make the best flavored pies that ever came from my mother's oven. Thanks for bringing back that memory. Barbara F.
Comment from Doris Matthews on September 26, 2008
All raise a glass of apple cider to Dwight Miller!
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