Rogers Reserve

Picture from Rogers Reserve webpage

Ernie Rogers was very interested in American chestnut because chestnut blight was killing American chestnut when he left his native Pennsylvania home and moved to Jackson, MI. When he found Professor Fulbright working on American chestnut in Michigan, Ernie offered his farm to grow the trees Professor Fulbright was studying. It was on his own farm donated to MSU that Ernie watched American chestnut take root and produce their first crops of nuts.

Edible sweet chestnut orchards have sprung up across Michigan.  According to the Ag Census of 2007, Michigan has the largest number of growers and the most acreage of any state.  For more information on growing chestnuts, chestnut researchers, or American chestnut in Michigan, click on the links below.

A nice discussion of some cultivars for Michigan  here.

Lead Post for NAFEX Acorns and Chestnuts

This is the lead post for the NAFEX Acorns and Chestnuts Interest group blog.

For now, this will be a "big tent" site.  I will repost emails (with the author's permission) and will gladly include stories about other mast crops...like hazelnuts.

Guidelines:

-Guidelines are mere suggestions.  Just do the best you can.
-Who? What? How? Where? When? Why?  Answer those questions and you will have a great article.
-Pictures make the story.  Good pictures include a standard size reference in them.  US coinage, dollar bills, ball point pens are all decent size references.
-Including a small piece of white paper (like a three-by-five index card) allows the editor (me) to color correct the photo.  Ideally, the piece of paper will be in a corner that I can crop out of the photo.

Sources:

I need your help identifying sources.  I will get the ball rolling but am sure that I will miss many excellent sources.  Don't get mad.  Send me an email  acornsandchestnuts@gmail.com

Potential topics:

• Problems you solved
• Pest control
• Harvest
• Post harvest treatment
• Markets/what do you use them for
• Recipes
• How long before your trees started bearing
• Sources
• Fertilizer
• Mulch
• Tools, for planting, for pruning, for harvest 
• Where are you growing your trees
• Specific trees/strains for "tough" growing conditions
• What would you tell your son/daughter if they were starting out