I heard about a separate group of fruit and nut enthusiasts in the Triangle that met and organized recently, and that's led me to hope that a similar group might come together in the western Piedmont, roughly in the Hickory-Greensboro, Charlotte-VA line area. There's already a small number of people that have connected by e-mail, but we haven't organized an initial in-person meeting yet. The idea of the group would be to facilitate communication and sharing between area fruit and nut growers, especially anyone interested in propagating, grafting, and otherwise growing fruit and nuts. Meetings might be hosted at alternating members' backyards/orchards/etc. and might only take place as little as once per year, but the hope is that they'd facilitate other exchanges and cooperative activities between members. If you're interested even in just keeping up with the group by e-mail get in touch with me and I'll catch you up on what's happened already by e-mail. Let me know, of course, if you have any questions.
-Eric