On July 29, Amy Bourlon-Hilterbran and Jason Hilterbran held a dedication at Oak Creek Heritage Orchard and Farm in Florence.
During the opening dedication ceremony, she thanked everyone for attending the event.
“What makes this the heritage orchard is that my husband, Jason and I are bringing back the Colorado orange apple to Florence, Colo.,” she said. “This is our amazing first Colorado orange apple tree that is beginning our orchard. It's affectionately named 'Uncle Jesse.'”
In 1863, Jesse Frazier brought trees and … seeds and participated in some experimentation, trying to find the best possible fruits for this area, Bourlon-Hilterbrand continued. In doing so, the Colorado orange apple was born. It's not an orange fruit. It's actually a palish yellow with a little bit of a blush, but it has a citrus taste.
“The Colorado orange apple really flourishes in this area,” she added. “It ripens in late December and it's (good) all the way to July so it's a unique long staying fruit. When the delicious red apple came about, it really took over the industry and a lot of the varieties of apples were lost. The Colorado orange apple was one of those that was thought to be lost, extinct, as a matter of fact, for (more than) a century. In 2010ish, I believe it was Paul Telck, who contacted the Montezuma Restoration Project because he had a family orchard (with one of the orange apple trees) existing there. It looked as though it was dying so he wanted to make sure that if it were that it could be preserved.”
The manager of the Montezuma Restoration Project came out, took some of the apples, took some DNA samples then worked with Colorado University Extension Office, as well as multiple entities to DNA test and compare the apples to a … wax apple collection, Bourlon-Hilterbrand said.
“They did confirm that tree was the last living Colorado orange apple. So began the restoration of the Colorado orange apple through the Montezuma Restoration Project, which is located in Cortez,” she said. “This is our first tree and we are calling it 'Uncle Jesse' in honor of Jesse Frazier. We have our second tree, which our family will be doing a private dedication in memorial of our son, Austen that we lost in 2023. We are hoping to have 50 trees so (it will be) a smaller orchard. It will be exclusively Colorado orange apple tree.”
However, the grasshoppers have already began munching on the tree so Bourlon-Hilterbrand covered the Colorado orange apple tree with netting to keep it from being destroyed.
After the ceremony, Bourlon-Hilterbran provided a tour of the property, which includes the Venue at Oak Creek.