Start with the local agricultural extension service where your property is located. Your area should have a county agent.

As I recall, the University of Vermont had a lot of good apple information online. I read lots of their variety trial info. Locally directed info is better than what you get from most books.

Here's one of many links to get you started:
http://orchard.uvm.edu/uvmapple/hort/index.html

Here are three to get you started:

the BackYard Orchardist by Stella Otto
the BackYark Berry Book by Stella Otto
The Berry Grower's Companion by Barbara L. Bowling

Read the entire books and refer to them as you need. Easy to read.

Thank you for the responses. Kurtg I added the UVM website you linked to my favorites for future reference and printed out "Apple Orchard Information for Beginners" to get me started. I am a big fan of the Extension Service and volunteer at my local office in Bethel Connecticut. I use the internet a lot for research but must confess to still relying on books for reference. Hoseman thank you also for your book recommendations. I already had both of Stella Otto's books on my amazon wish list and added the Berry Grower's Companion per your recommendation. Looks like I have plenty of reading to keep me busy during the winter months. Thanks again to you both for your input.

The Vegetable Gardeners Bible by Ed Smith is the best veggie book out there. There are no particular orchard books that stand out to me, other than The Grape Grower by Lon Rombough. The thing that none of these books convey is the necessity of choosing your battles very carefully. Some crops grow themselves, while others will almost always fail regardless of massive input. Following is my highly subjective list of best to worst crops for zones 7-8. Good luck.

1. Asian Persimmon (Fuyu Jiro, Izu)
2. Fig
3. Japanese Loquat
4. Labrusca (American Concord type) Grape (Jupiter, Glenora, Steuben, etc.
5. Eggs (chicken)
6. Pomegranate
7. Mulberry
8. Mint
9. Rosemary

10. Blackberry
11. Kale

Filbert
Late Plum
Tomato
Pepper
Basil
Beef
Pork
Green Beans
Carrot
Turnip
Greens
Walnut
Pear
Raspberry
Blueberry
Cucumber
Winter Squash
Eggplant
Melon
Spinach
Potato
Peach
Cherry
Pecan
Apple
Corn
Mutton
Early (Japanese) Plum
Apricot
Milk (Cow, Goat)
Grains

Anything by Ruth Stout. Her book "No Work Gardening" is her best seller. It's easy to find and a delight to read.
Another one that's a bit harder to find is "How to Farm Your Backyard the Mulch Organic Way." by Max Alth.
The Sunset Gardening Book is a wonderful book for information about all sorts of plants. Rodale Press has several good titles. There are also several good books out now under the heading of Market Gardening, if you are thinking about supplementing your income with very small scale crops.
But if I only had one, Ruth Stout would be the one.

For apple growing I would highly recommend the book "The Apple Grower" by Michael Phillips. This is a highly readable, but detailed recent work on organic apple production written by a New England orchardist and contains detailed information on starting orchards, planting, rootstocks, prnuing, diseases, etc. The only thing it lacks -- by design of course -- is discussion of the use of synthetic insecticides and the like. You might also download a copy of the Fedco trees catalog from Fedco, another New England company. This catalog is full of useful information, especially on varieties of fruit trees appropriate for your conditions.

Austransplant, thank you for your recommendation of the Apple Grower and the Fedco Tree Catalog. I downloaded the catalog and was pleased to see the Apple Grower emphasizes organic methods. Softmentor, I also appreciate your recommendations and have added both of your titles to my amazon wish list. Fruithack, your list of plants/animals in zone 7/8 is quite impressive. The variety you list will not be available to me in Zone 4 in VT but there are quite a few that I will definitely be growing. I also very much enjoyed your recommendation of Ed Smith's book and was pleased to read he is from Vermont. I have added all of the books to my wish list - hopefully I will get a lot of books for Christmas. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful recommendations.

Organic apple production is not easy where you're moving. Michael Phillips put together a great book but plum curculio is not a big issue where he has his weekend orchard. To go organic you'll likely have to use Surround to get good apple production where you are which will turn your trees white the entire growing season. It's a bit difficult to apply and needs to be used with summer oil to conrol mites and scale in my experience.

If you're really interested in fruit trees I suggest you google NAFEX and become a member. They supply members with access to thier extensive library and there are a lot of extrmemely knowledgeable members who will help you.

Harvestman, thank you for your response regarding the difficulties of organic fruit production in Vermont. I have also heard it is not easy to do. Fortunately I am just growing for my own needs so if I have a crop failure it won't be a financial hit, just a lack of applesauce that winter! I am going to do a search for NAFEX and sign up as you suggested. Thank you again for your input.