People have been grafting apple trees for thousands of years, ever since the fruit was domesticated. “It’s an ancient technique,” says Julie Sawtelle, who will be co-teaching a free workshop on the subject on Friday in Monmouth.

“Because apples do not come true from seed … if you want the same apple, you need to graft,” she explained, adding that grafting – in which a shoot or twig from a desirable fruiting tree is implanted onto the rootstock of another tree – is a way to grow many types of fruit in a small space. Sawtelle, a librarian by trade, enthusiastically grows fruit trees, makes jams and ferments in her free time. She learned how to graft from good teachers. “It mainly takes practice to do well, like anything else – riding a bike or baking a cake. On my first attempt, I got an 80 percent success rate and that’s because I went to a workshop like this. You have to have the right conditions, but it’s actually a fairly easy technique to learn. If you can handle a pocketknife, you can learn to do this.”

Grafters Unite!, fruit tree grafting workshop. Various grafting methods will be demonstrated, and instructional handouts provided. Beginners welcome, and experienced grafters are urged to share their knowledge. Feel free to bring a tool and dormant whips (3/8- to 3/4-inch diameter) for practice. Free. Cumston Hall, 796 Main St., Monmouth, 933-4788, 6:30 p.m. Friday.