Why chestnuts? Chestnuts are a staple carbohydrate, like potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, wheat, and corn — the basic stuff of many people’s diets. We can roast or boil chestnuts, make them into soups or stews, or dry them to make gluten-free flour, and foods like polenta, pasta, pancakes, tortillas, and bread.
But unlike more familiar starches, chestnuts grow on trees. They get planted once, and they live for centuries. Shifting our food system from annual to perennial crops is one of the most important strategies on earth to counteract climate change.
By choosing to eat organic, sustainably-grown chestnuts (link in bio), you can help support:
🌎 a healthier climate
☂️ a resilient food system that’s more resilient to extreme weather
🪱 healthy soil
🌳 agriculture without tillage, chemicals, & pollution
⚖️ agriculture that is equitable & not built on exploiting workers
💧 cleaner rivers and oceans
🐝 biodiversity & wildlife habitat
🧑🌾 thriving rural communities
💪 a region that can feed itself
👣 a foodshed that will nourish future generations
As we look ahead to the coming century and the changing climate, we can learn important lessons from wise human cultures of the past and present. For thousands of years, chestnuts have fed communities all over the world — from eastern North America, across the Mediterranean and Western Asia, to the highlands of China, Korea, and Japan.
Chestnuts have saved stranded soldiers in storms, fed peasants in famine, and supported anti-imperial movements on multiple continents. Because this tree sustains cultures through many generations, many of those cultures have named it the “Bread Tree” or the “Tree Of Wise Foresight”. In some places, the chestnut has been so fundamental that it is called simply "The Tree".
Every autumn for thousands of years in eastern North America, millions of acres of forests produced billions of pounds of chestnuts — a major staple food source until an invasive blight wiped out the American Chestnut in the early 1900s. 120 years later, chestnut culture is growing again in the Eastern U.S. No matter who you are or where you’re from, this food is for you.
🌳 Hey farmers — there's still space (and trees!) if you want to join us **this coming weekend**
Mycena Agroforestry Initiative and a coalition of regional farms and organizations are hosting a weekend of tree distribution, hands-on planting workshops, and site education across the Catskills — and we still have room for more farms to join us!
Over 5,000 trees are available through the Farming with Trees Project, with demos on reading the land, planting patterns, tree protection, and more.
Two days, two locations. Free to attend.
📍 Sat May 2 — Star Route Farm, Charlotteville NY
📍 Sun May 3 — Gael Roots Community Farm, Livingston Manor NY (with special co-host Breadtree Farms)
Link in bio & below to register and see the full tree list. 🌱
/events
Brought to you by: Mycena Agroforestry Initiative · @catskillsagrarianalliance · @gaelrootsfarm · @silverrunforestfarm · @wellspringforestfarm · @theforestexchange · @breadtreefarms · @starroutefarm
Thanks to our generous neighbor Mark, the Breadtree Frames team was up on the mountain last week harvesting a couple of black locusts (robinia pseudoacacia) to cut rot-resistant bottom plates for the new barns / chestnut processing facility. These wild type trees are 18-24” DBH at ~50 years old. They have been providing mega nectar flow to decades of pollinators, while building soil on a shallow ridgetop. Now they will store carbon in our barns until the end of the world as we know it.
Appreciating the amazing value that these trees offer to us, the soil, the air, and the many creatures who live here. One important way we can respond is to … plant more trees. We are trialing mixed timber interplantings in some chestnut blocks, with tulip tree, hybrid cedar, black locust, catalpa, and sassafras, which we will crown lift (prune) to stratify above the neighboring chestnut rows. These will include some Turbo Obelisk timber selections from Silvanus via @propagate_ag@_harry_greene -- a fitting name for a beautiful strain of weed. Stay tuned for barn construction this summer.
Thanks to @northeastwoodlandtraining for keeping our team safe 🙏
A very special couple of weeks here in the Hudson valley accompanying Ernst working with a variety of farms at different scales from small and hand-powered to large and mechanized, Learning a lot from a true elder with a depth of experience and knowledge. @agendagotsch@breadtreefarms@aooafarm@hvfarmhub
And now, back to planting and managing forests 🌳 🌍
🌳 What if your bread could grow on trees?
🌰 For thousands of years, chestnuts were a staple food—more like a grain than a typical nut. Cultures around the world have called chestnuts the “bread tree.”
🥞 Chestnuts can be roasted, added to soups and stews, or dried and milled into gluten-free flour for pasta, pancakes, and bread.
🌿 An episode of Wild Foods on PBS features @breadtreefarms and their commitment to local food.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TURNING OUT!! We are so grateful to everyone for coming together for another incredible Nut Fest! There were delicious treats, friendly faces, and a veritable carpet of nut shells by the end of the day. It was such a joy to witness kids become expert nut crackers (squirrels), to learn about acorn processing and the history of nut culture in the Hudson Valley, and to see so many folks getting to try hickory milk for the first time. Most importantly, it just means so much to reconnect and gather in celebration of our native nut trees and the spirit of generosity and abundance they teach.
All of this is possible because of our sponsors @hvfarmhub@arthurspointfarm@glynwoodorg and @ccecgc and our incredible venue @rosehillfarm . And we especially would not have been able to do this without the foundational support of @berkshireagventures@breadtreefarms and @crowhillnursery . We cannot thank you enough.
To whoever is reading this and to whoever came to Nut Fest: Thanks to you, a tree based food system is now more possible than ever.
📷 by @juulers_row + @awardcasner 🙏
We can't tell you how excited we are for the big day, Hudson Valley Nut Fest. The nuts are gathered, delicious treats are being baked, and the nut community is traveling from far and wide to come together and celebrate.
We want to let folks know that Nut Fest is on, rain or shine! As of right now, we are seeing some light rain in the morning, clearing up by midday. In addition to having lots of covered space under popup tents, we will also have a larger tent with patio heaters for our workshops. There will be hot cider served by @rosehillfarm_ny , chestnog served by @chestnutexperiment , and some free samples of warm hickory milk.
There will also be warm roasted chestnuts by @mastwoodfarms and @breadtreefarms , and @kraykray will have a whole spread of chestnut, acorn, and black walnut vegan treats. That and so so much more! See you soon!
Nut Fest is this Sunday! It might be chilly, but come out for chestnut coffee cake and warm hickory milk, stay for seed engraving with @sjivetin and a chestnut flour gnocchi workshop with @renee_makes_things , grab a @rosehillfarm_ny cider and an acorn donut on your way out! Can’t wait to see you there 🌰💖
As curtains rise on the cold, dark approach of mud season drudgery, the megaton stokelord in the sky brushes us a few crumbs from its table! Two new sources of sunshine and blood sugar, produced on our farms and now available on our webshop (link in bio). We are also wholesaling, if you are a retailer interested in stocking these foods. Maple syrup is available in glass pints and quarts, and raw honey is available in 1lb and 3lb glass jars. One (more) small step toward “the farm that has everything we need”.
Nut Fest is a celebration of the incredible diversity of local nut species grown and foraged in the Northeastern US. It brings together consumers, producers, foragers, and community members to connect, learn, and enjoy the bounty of regional and climate-resilient tree nut crops.
Join them for their communal nut-cracking table, roasted chestnuts, and many delicious nut treats. There will be an acorn processing workshop hosted by Mark Ressl, black walnut dying station, screen printing, a cooking demo by @renee_makes_things , Seed engraving with @sjivetin , all day kids activities, and a myriad of nut enthusiasts to quench any of your burning curiosities. Justin Wexler of @wild_hudson_valley will give a presentation on Indigenous uses of native nuts, and 100% of all donations will go to the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, @no_loose_braids , and @akwesasnefreedomschool .
Pre-register at /hvnutfest2025
@hvnutfest@breadtreefarms@berkshireagventures@arthurspointfarm@ccecgc@cceulster@glynwoodorg@crowhillnursery
