Michael

These will be some of the saddest words I have had to write, but Michael Phillips passed away on Saturday. This will be news to most of you, and a shock to all. He suffered a heart attack while out in the orchard. I know a lot of you in the forum will want to know how to offer condolences or how they may help his family, so we will let you know how that may be possible. This is not the kind of space many would have liked to hear this sad news, but it is important you all know. He was a sweet man, a fine friend to many of us, and an unmatched giant in this nerdy world of apples. He will be greatly missed.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2022 03:56PM by Todd Parlo.

I woke this morning to a phone call from a friend of mine within the orcharding community notifying me of Michael's passing. It was tough to begin my day hearing the news, particularly of a man I admired so much. Nearly a decade ago I began my career as an orchardist. Michael's work touched me deeply; not just in how I manage trees but in my personal life as well. He changed the way I think, my perception, and essentially the course of my life. I will forever remember the times we've met, the things I've learned, and the gentle touch he had for the land. He positively impacted the apple growing community and will live in my heart (and orchard) forever.

We were shocked and saddened to learn the news today in the NAFEX forum. I know everyone who knew Michael is grieving with heavy, heavy hearts. I hope folks will share ways to support the family here. RIP, Michael.

Just seeing this... feeling shocked and reeling. To lose someone you admire and respect, even from afar, can be devastating. But I'm sure the loss is far heavier for his family and close friends, maybe some of whom are here, on the site he launched. So take care, be well, and know you're not alone everyone.

Yes, Todd. Please keep us posted if there's anything we can do to help.

(Just occurred to me... those poor trees! They've lost a great caretaker. Ugh, awful news)

Michael was an exceptional whole systems thinker and communicator. His insights, enthusiasm and playfulness inspired. May all of us, in ways great and small, continue to share his sense of purpose and joy of life.

Michael the webster speaking now for the Forum Administrators (and feeling bereft):
Michael and I were in the midst of big doings, as we usually have been during the winter months for two decades -- rethinking and simplifying wherever we could (How to Use This Site), and plotting for a comprehensive "refresh your Orchard Profile" campaign. The new Content Management System had engaged his gnat's eyelash attentiveness, and his HTML skills, along with his hunger to sharpen them, were rising fast. Whole-systems thinkers, both of us, him with apple trees and me with websites, our interaction was challenging and fun.
My daughter Sienna and I shared the web work on this site and Michael's Lost Nation Orchard, and agree that he was at once our most demanding and favorite client. Yesterday Sienna said, "the site is SO Michael, it's hard to imagine who could carry on." I agree, but the site going stale or dark seems like an enormous, unforgiveable waste of an important and significant SHARED effort.
Technically and emotionally, I await Nancy's preference about GOA, but I'm also eager to hear if there is (are) someone(s) who will pick up the torch. I have apple trees, but am nowhere near expert enough. Michael was right on the brink of sending out his winter newsletter -- I'm sure it's 99% complete on his computer -- and I think there was also a book nearing completion. There's a carefully tended mailing and subscriber list -- Michael was a brilliant list maker -- and a slick tool for sending emails to select groups. Grow Organic Apples is an institution that should, I think, extend Michael's legacy, even though none of us was ready for him to go.

At Nancy's request, I have created an in memoriam page at the Lost Nation Orchard website. If you have thoughts, recollections, remembrances, or kind words to share, you may email them to the Forum Administrators who are handling the submissions.

This is so unbelievably sad. I was notified from Usha from The Ahimsa Alternative while order products and I just thought there had to be a mistake. Everything we done here on our little orchard in Missouri has been based off of my readings of Michaels books, this forum, and this holistic network as a whole. I dreamed of one day being able to meet him and go to The Lost Nation Orchard. May you rest in peace good teacher, you will be deeply missed.

Whenever a tragedy strikes, there is that moment of incredulity. I think we all, regardless of our philosophies, believe that we live on...in our children, our students, our words, and in our work. Michael is one of those individuals who impacted an awful lot of people (and if I am included, awful people). To make sense of this, and to honor his vision we have work to do. Not just grow apples, but be responsible stewards of the earth, be connected and kind to the lowly who grow food for us all, and to help nurture good things in others. This is a time to reflect on how each of us are doing things on the land. It is a time to lend a hand and a mind to those who could use the help. Maybe that is part of your career already, maybe it is just coaching someone in the neighborhood, or maybe just a word of encouragement. I notice above that hundreds of people have viewed this thread. Most of you may feel uncomfortable offering words, especially if you did not know Michael personally. Keep in mind that anything you can say to show your appreciation for this man and the help he has lent us all will be good for all to hear. And something else...he created this site so that like minded souls could lend help to each other in a world that seems to have other ideas about true responsibility. Offer and idea, ask a question, tell a story. By keeping the conversations going and being helpful to each other I really believe we will be honoring his legacy.

Thank you Michael for having such a profoundly beneficial impact on my life.

I have many fond memories walking and talking with Michael between sessions at the NOFA winter conferences (late February) at UVM 'bout 10 years ago or so.

Just recently, I was flooded with a sense of excitement and joy at the prospect of using my Rears-Pak tank for the first time in a while... (I let the pump freeze and crack a few winters ago)... so excited and hopeful about hosing down the trees and land with Michael's pulsing springtime brew of neem and fish and kelp, molasses and our first batch of activated EM which I mixed for brew last Friday! Just recently, I pulled Michael's treatise on Mycchorizha off the shelf and began reading. Every day I pass by the mother load of ramial woodchips from the VTrans road crew and can't wait to get bucket fulls under my trees.

All this I share because our efforts are "so much the more so" potentized in lieu of recent world events - having a way to be more like a "beneficial" lets me sleep a bit better at night - and for this, I thank Michael as well as his family as well as all of you associated with this site.

Blessings to All.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/2022 01:48AM by Jon Place.

I lost a friend to an avalanche once. He had been instrumental in starting an avalanche forecasting division on a heavily used mountain range in Alaska. If he'd died in the mountains, people could use those meant to be soothing words, "At least he died doing what he loved." But my friend didn't set off a slide on some beautiful peak with alpenglow lighting the snow. It was a chunk of ice sliding off a roof when he stepped outside and closed the door. His passing left a hole in the skiing community and one in my heart.

Some of us who were close to him started a telemark skiing festival to raise money for avalanche awareness to the general public and to help us heal. We had a lot of fun and some tears over the eight years the festival was held. It fizzled away due to attrition, friends moved away, knees protested the tele-turn and we had healed. The avalanche center still exists, we kept it funded long enough for it to get a life of its own.

I really hope a similar thing happens with HON. I didn't know Michael well, but when we met, I wanted to know him and his family better. He, and all of you who are active on HON, are an inspiration to the future of ethical orcharding. I'll do my part with regular dues for website upkeep and related costs as well as regularly reading and chiming in when I have knowledge that adds to the forum. Maybe the HON will get that life of its own. Maybe it'll fizzle after eight years, but think of how many new or new to holistic fruit farmers will be affected by then.

shane patrick
pleasant pond orchard
richmond, maine
5b

Much of what I know of orcharding I learned from Micheal these last 10 years. Spoke to him, but never met him. The world is less for losing him.

Tom Kleffman
Four Daughters Farm

I didn’t know Michael well, but I knew him well enough. We met several times over the past 20 years. A few times at conferences, mostly at the Berkshire Roundtable each March. I never made it to one of his intensives or visited him at Lost Nation Orchard, and I hadn’t seen him at the Roundtable since March 2020 because of Covid. And we were mere days away from another vigorous “hang,” talking apples, cider, and other true gems of the natural world. We were emailing regularly and feeling energized for the year ahead. But, alas, it wasn’t to be.

I heard about his passing Sunday evening when Alan Suprenant, Michael’s long-time friend and confidant, notified the attendees of the upcoming Roundtable that Michael has died of a heart attack in his orchard while chasing down a rogue deer. I haven’t had many people close to me die too young, so the news hit me like a gunshot. I was stunned and saddened as many of us were. The Berkshire group endeavored to forge forward with the meeting since it was what Michael would have wanted. There was more than a tinge of somberness and sadness at the gathering with sentiments of “where do we go from here” wrapped in love, passion, and honor.

Michael’s legacy is solid, and the mission moves forward. At the meeting, I recalled how I initially came to know Michael, as many of us did, through his book ‘The Apple Grower’. My holistic journey to that point had started a decade before as I was embarking on my apple growing career. Though he first few years of my career were without context – what did I know about farming? – as a lover of the wild nature I’ve always had a bone to pick with conventional ag. I didn’t know what sustainable agricultural was – it wasn’t even really a term until the late 80s – and I barely knew what growing apples was all about. Organic farming was a still a hippie, back-to-the-land “thing” that had no place for “real” farmers. By the early 90s things had started to change. The USDA – for better or worse – had established an organic certification, Alar had hit the news and consumers started to become more aware about how their food was grown; there was more focus on how our industrialized food system was killing the planet - and us - in dramatic fashion. But Michael, not single-handedly yet with an intense focus on growing apples, cast a new light on what it meant to be an enlightened farmer and fellow human. He expanded on the work of Rodale, Nearing, Steiner, and too many others to recount.

I had been growing apples for nearly 20 years when I stumbled across Michael’s book ‘The Apple Grower’. Though I knew plenty about growing apples, I knew little about growing apples organically. Everyone said it was impossible, though deep down I knew there must be a way. As I started to crack the door, his insights and wisdom kicked the whole damn door in for me. He evoked a new trajectory, philosophy, and passion for what had become my pomology career. He did this as well for an ever-growing tribe of avid apple growers asking ‘what next?’. He did that every day of his life leading up to that fateful night when the inevitability of death caught up with him. He'll continue to do that I spirit for years to come. Others have picked up the torch, for holistic anything is the only way forward towards any salvation of ourselves, apples, and Earth. I can still hear the refrain from the Ivory tower: “Oh, that’s just wishful thinking.”
There is a somber reflectiveness to Michael’s passing where I am sad for him. He had just finished his cidery, almost finished a book, seen renewed energy injected into the Holistic Orchard Network forum, and we were just about to gather again at Stump Sprouts. He was passionate about getting us all together again, giddy after almost two years of not seeing many of us. But I mostly feel for Nancy and Gracie who lost a husband and a father without warning – I can’t even imagine.

When I first heard of Michael’s passing it reminded me of an Ed Abbey story ‘Deadman at Grandview Point’. It’s the story of a man lost in the red rock canyons of the desert southwest. A man so lost that he sits down in the shade of the blistering heat to die knowing that the end is nigh. But in his last moments he takes in the grandeur of everything around him and is content. I can only imagine Michael doing the same, albeit in the snowy wilderness of Lost Nation Orchard, becoming one with everything around him and taking a deep breathe while looking up at the night sky. And not for the last time, but for the first and for eternity.

Michael in many ways was larger than life, yet so down to Earth. I reflected recently about how for someone with so much knowledge inside him that he was such a good listener. He will be with us for a long time to come. He is with us here to-day. It is up to us to honor and carry on his legacy – the earth, the people and the apples demand it. He is listening, floating in the stars and taking notes.

Mike Biltonen, Know Your Roots
Zone 5b in New York

What a beautiful tribute, Mike. Thank you for sharing it.

Not sure if this is the place to raise the subject, but I was planning to send my annual dues to Michael next month to help defray the cost of running the Forum and keep the HON website going.

If there's another thread to discuss what we can all do to continue his legacy, I'll join the discussion there. Just on my mind as the topic of carrying our collective project forward has been raised here by several posters.

Are there never enough days in the life of a Horticulturist to know the magic of nature? Michael certainly had a sense of the awe, the science of this beautiful art we call orcharding. It occurs to me, front, center- life is precious and it is our vitality that supports us contributing to a legacy. Authoring is a great piece to this tapestry of knowledge summoning the community through its ideals. It's our fruits, our environs collecting our attentions, piecing the threads together. I want all of us to hold this passion dear. It behooves me to stay fit, write something down, and prepare a will. Long live his forum. Thank you Michael for being a leader.

Skipley Farm 500 varieties, wet spring, clayloam, 1900 gdd, AM,CM, Anthracnose, 20 rootstocks, Seedling Apples, Nursery business 50 years. Excel-
my.sharepoint.com/:x:/p/gil/EcvdyToBAjxEqqSo180osVgBp5QUoWF-5I8e0RDhDhmkdA?e=kkJaZZ

I heard the news about Michael a week ago. Until now, it hasn't felt real -- he's laying low because he's busy in the orchard or swamped with meeting prep . . . or something. When you communicate with someone primarily via email or online chat in a forum, the actual distance becomes a buffer to reality. In fact, it wasn't until yesterday and today, after a week away from the farm and computer, that the fact of Michael's passing sunk in a bit more. I've been catching up on forum chatter and realized, in spite of the daily updates to various threads, how quiet it is without Michael chiming in on most subjects!

It's quieter when I catch up on deskwork, too. One thing Michael and I really had in common, ironically, given that we're farmers and ultimately prefer the outdoors, was our love of the email medium. We shared a love of writing, appreciation of fine humor, and strangely similar cultural tastes, and I guess we also both ultimately enjoyed the immediacy of email messaging, given that it makes for an actual conversation, but with the added benefit of meaningful editing. Apparently, we were both really efficient typists, too, given the whopping lengths of some of our emails. For the past couple of months, I often sat down to some quick indoor work and found my desk time enjoyably augmented by a Michael messaging exchange in response to a comment or query on either end. What could have been dry orcharding discourse became a study in wit: one recent email with the subject line, "apple grower, 64, seeks sap analysis," triggered an ongoing banter of suggested personal ad lines. I will miss the man's insights and expertise, but most of all, I will miss his deft way with the written word and the humor that seemed to inevitably worm its way into any of his communications. And, of course, I will miss the ping of an incoming Michael email.

I knew I had found a group where I could belong when, at the 2020 Berkshire Roundtable, in the midst of serious orchard talk, a conversation between Michael, Scott Boloten, and myself evolved into jockeying over who did the best Marlon Brando impression from 'On the Waterfront.' Lightness of spirit is a such a precious and useful thing, and Michael had it in spades. When my mother and I were teetering on the edge of the conventional orcharding cliff a few years ago, we used one of Michael's 'orchard calling cards' and asked him to talk us down off the ledge. From then on, he would sporadically refer to communications from us as having reached his suicide hotline.

I can't think of a more fitting tribute to Michael than for all of us to "keep the conversation going," as he would say, on this forum. Thanks to webmaster Michael Potts for realizing that, while his loss may be recent, allowing any lapse in the use or upkeep of the forum or greater HON site would be a disservice to Michael Phillips' memory, and the sooner we figure out the site's future, the better. Thanks, also, to Shane for his realistic and experience-informed musing over what may be the destiny of the HON site and the forum. All one needs to do is scroll through the "Do you care?" thread to see that the will to keep this legacy going is strong, whether or not we need to transition to some sort of group-funding or otherwise. Looking forward to a frank discussion of how we move forward in the near future. Master Potts, is it appropriate to ask after the general state of the website, funding-wise? The HON advisory board will hopefully be reaching out to each other soon, and it would be great to have some parameters for what, if anything, are matters for consideration. It may be time to start a new discussion thread to take up such questions, and reserve this "Michael" thread for memorializations, as others have already pointed out. Thanks to all for sharing.

Kordick Family Farm
Westfield, NC
Zone 7a



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/2022 04:48AM by Brittany Kordick.

Thanks Brittany. I for one second the need to have a rigorous discussion about how to keep the forum going. There are a small handful of folks that contribute and participate on a regular basis, a bunch of others that pop in from time to time, and still more (the majority) that we never hear from. Apart from the finances and the management of the site, we need to (still?) figure out who's in and who's out. Not to exclude anyone, but to get a broader sense of how to pick up the threads and move forward, and who does that. As far as the advisory board, that has all seemed a bit clandestine and at this point I would love to see a broader and more open discussion and inclusiveness going forward. In a sense, this is everyone's Forum now as we all benefit from not just the archival information here and conversations, but also the wisdom we gain by moving forward together. It felt like we were just turning a corner and gaining some momentum with the Forum when Michael died. To honor Michael above all else, I'd hate to lose that momentum but instead look at the last month or so as a spark for continued and elevated conversations and involvement. How can I help?

Mike Biltonen, Know Your Roots
Zone 5b in New York

Although I really do share an apple a day with my wife, and have for years, I don't know much about pomology and so have for 20+ years now stayed behind the curtain, being mechanic to Michael's charismatic. As a web spinner (never webmaster; it's not a masterable craft) in his eighth decade, most of my clients are in their third acts -- comedies, I am happy to report -- and aware that any one of these scenes may be their last . . .so what do we do about that? Slow down, work smarter, lift less, tools down earlier before the body rebels. Sell the business if a buyer can be found? Mostly, charismatic's businesses are unsaleable. Increasingly for me the work has centered around nonprofits, and, specifically, how do we make them outlast their founders?
If ever there was a nonprofit, HON/GOA is one! The old joke, "it wasn't meant to be, it just happened," doesn't apply; the Network was always understood, at least by Michael and me, to be a service that might one day support itself, but that was of sufficient value to the planet to be worth us devoting a share of our productivity to its survival and thrival (if there is such a word.) The changes underlying last winter's website upgrade had two main purposes: to move any vestiges of Michael's self-interest from it to his orchard's site, Lost Nation Orchard, and to make content generation for the GOA website easier. Both, quite consciously conceived to make the Network more resilient and likely to continue its life were its original proponents to leave. If you worked with Michael, you know that he held very strong opinions about how things should be done, should look, should be expressed. A perfectionist down to a couple of pixels, he and I could dispute the difference between two colors, #AA66AA and #6666AA, for days. I loved working with him for precisely this reason: he took the time to get things right, at least right enough, never misrepresent or dumb down, and revisit as soon as he knew how to make them even righter.
So now, Michael has removed himself from the Network in the most final way. For me, Mike Biltonen put it perfectly: "I can only imagine Michael . . . becoming one with everything around him and taking a deep breath while looking up at the night sky. And not for the last time, but for the first and for eternity." Mike continued: "He is with us here to-day. It is up to us to honor and carry on his legacy – the earth, the people and the apples demand it." Proving, among other things, that at least one of us has the writerly juice to keep the Network alive. Postings from so many others -- if you haven't, go to the In Memoriam page at Lost Nation and appreciate the clarity of emotions and sweetness of expression -- we may be better writers than we are orchardists, and we're darn good orchardists.
I propose a short hiatus during which we recover from our loss -- a wholly insupportable loss, I agree. Michael left us too soon, and too unexpectedly. Count me enthusiastically in when we actively resume this task. The current site provides a good model for us to follow, set in place deliberately and with eyes to its future by our departed leader. It being nearly Spring, we all have outdoor tasks calling, and although Michael and I didn't finish our intended agenda for this winter, we came close and were feeling good about our progress. Nancy and Grace have provided some near-term structure: let's skip the Holistic Orchard Intensive this June, to be reinvented, Grace suggests, as an Apple Retreat in 2023.
What should NOT be postponed: support for new growers joining the Network, and new holistic orchards being started. There are bunches of requests for consultations and guidance and site visitations on Michael's job queue; it would be good if some of you more knowledgeable orchardists would step up and respond. (I can give you the leads if you ask, but please do it just between us, not broadcast on the forum.) Michael had a Winter/Spring newsletter almost finished, with its major article on sap analysis in an as-yet-undisclosed state somewhere on his computer; it should get found and finished, if anyone has insight into the direction Michael's thought was heading, and the newsletter should go out, in part to tell the 2,000+ Newsletter subscribers that apples still grow. Someone(s) should make their willingness to answer "the suicide hotline" (see Brittany's post, above) in the interests of fostering holistic orcharding.
Looking past a few weeks of mourning and retrenchment, I hope to see this Network evolve organically. As in our orchards, so for the Network . . . and so getting it right is preferable to getting it quickly. At the same time, I too don't want us to lose momentum that has picked up in the last 18 months. I look to the Advisory Board and to Michael's staunch friends and colleagues to self-organize to identify the work that needs doing, and develop a method for assigning that work to those who can do it best (meaning useful results crafted without undue inconvenience), thereby broadening, preserving, even enhancing the utility of the website. As a Californio whose last two years have made me charry about long distance travel and in-person gatherings, I suggest we use the internet's new tools to make our necessary connections -- as here.
"Apart from the finances:" I can assure you that the site's hosting and domain registration is secure through 2022, so while the site, apart from the Forum, may not grow much, that's not so different from previous years when its growing season has begun right after the last apples are picked. Nancy and Grace are willing, at least for now, to maintain the fiscal identity of the Network. If we who care continue to contribute in whatever way works best for us, there should be funding for modest honoraria to those who work closest to the growing tips of the Network, and so a sort of collective could, and in my view, should emerge.
Since those reading this are likely forum users and experienced apple workers, I want you to feel invited, even obliged, to "channel your inner Michael" when you see a post you think he might have responded to. More than almost anything, Michael yearned to be one of a forefront, never a solitary, in a movement. Please, if you know, tell. If you agree, share. "The earth, the people, and the apples demand it."

Thank you so much for lifting the HON curtain a bit for us, WebSpinner Potts! This is a big help in understanding the historical nature of the venture and the hopes for its future. I am relieved to know that we will not have to take any immediate action to preserve the site -- I was imagining worst case scenarios like site maintenance fees needing to be paid and having to figure out how to pass the hat as a group, then grappling with the implications of that in the short-term. Whew, to say the least. Well put when you say "getting it right is preferable to getting it quickly."

I enjoyed your point about Michael's perfectionism -- a few weeks ago he asked me to help him shake up the grower nursery listings on the site to make better sense. I received a long, loooooooong email with screenshots and the equivalents of Officer Obie's circles and arrows explaining what each one was, and I remember thinking, "Oh, god, what have I gotten myself into?" And we were really just talking about the order of listings and changing headings, etc. It was funny, and a lot of fun.

Thank you for keeping this little world spinning for us all, and please don't hesitate to delegate if there are any mundane tasks that need doing or if you happen to notice a query that should be addressed on the forum, but has been neglected -- I know Michael was very instrumental in prodding people to answer a thread if he felt they could really speak to the subject matter. It sure seems like people are going out of their way to address threads and keep the ball in constant motion, though, so that is really great to see.

Kordick Family Farm
Westfield, NC
Zone 7a



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2022 03:15PM by Brittany Kordick.

This idea of attention to detail is a great point in considering not just what will happen with the site but also what it means to run a good site. Granted, this seems to have been a good fit between the Michael P. and Michael P. in creating a nice looking and interactive experience. I appreciate however the work that comes with attention to detail. We just redid our own website last year, (commerce, research, etc.) in which we did hire a web person to help us along, although I wound up doing nearly all of the work myself (control freak). And oh my goodness, does it require work. Not to just have a site, be that a forum, commerce site, whatever- that part is easy. Having something to be proud of is something else entirely. Mr. Potts pointed out the friendly argument about color. I had an actual argument with my web guy about color (I was told I was a "pain in the a__"). So I, and collectively we, should appreciate what goes into all the little details that can be taken for granted. The other point I would like to make is the attention to detail in the posts themselves. I believe that since this model started out with bona fide orchardists as members, and likely the leadership of Michael Ph, that we would up with discourse that was, well, meatier. By that I mean that we should compare the typical forums out there with the "one liner" questions and responses. I quickly tire of this, even on interesting sites, often intermingled with clever comments or even attacks. This holistic group has shown its diligence in often giving thoughtful and in-depth replies and inquiries. You can tell that most here have taken the time to think about things before scribbling out their comments. I am sure folks are doing fact checking, looking at their notes, and quite possibly checking for tYp0s. Be sure this is very rare in the modern world of forums. I think this maturity in discussion is the most important thing we can do with this wonderful site that the Michaels and all the rest of us, have created.

Speechless.
Well, not quite: I am full of hope for the continuation of the Network, having seen the stepping up. Thank you for noticing.

- M ;>