Nuts to Eat!

Hello folks,

Just a quick notice- we do have nuts to eat available for shipment at the usual dates listed on our nut order page. We'll hopefully be updating that page, and potentially prices, in the next week or so. As always, ordering now will lock in today's price!

Note: our supply of Old Fashioned chestnuts is relatively low this year, and we may sell out early.

Badgersett: Processing & Distributing

Chestnut and hickory harvests are winding down, and we're moving into the next seasonal tasks: fertilizing, pre-winter pest control, firewood for the cabin, and not least of all post-harvest work for all three crops.

Hazel seed processing is nearly done, but nearly all of our hazels to eat have yet to be husked (though they have been curing in-husk since harvest). We've got a substantial amount of the chestnut harvest in the curing stage, and a few of the hickories as well. Hickory post-harvest is more experimental for us, and this year the hickory data is critical and a pain in the neck– both because the trees are getting crowded and we need to make coppice/cull decisions.

As of October 5, Badgersett Research Corp. has officially entered into the "processor and distributor" business; we've bought our first batch of nuts (unhusked and uncured) from one of our growers. We'll buy yours too, in any condition. We will currently buy fully husked and well-cured (not overheated, rancid, or over-dried) nuts, of sufficient size and fit for human consumption, for $3/lb; prices are adjusted from there based on basic quality and required processing.

Marketing your own crop is definitely doable, but it takes substantial time and energy. We've got the demand already lined up, from small-order direct sales to requests for container-loads per week (which we won't be filling for some time...). Now, you've got access to those markets through us!

We'll pay by check, or (for a 15% bonus) in credit with BRC for plant or consulting purchases. We can estimate the yield and pay you at delivery, or pay using known yield after processing. Due to our limited resources and the associated increased risk, payment at delivery will invoke a 5% lower payment.

THIS YEAR ONLY: we'll provide full yield analysis of your crop for no additional charge. We expect this to be offered for a fee in the future.

We've got enough folks around that we can take delivery at almost any time, but you can call ahead at (888) 557-4211 x7 to verify that somebody will be at the farm to take your delivery, particularly if you want payment at that time.

yes, we've got big nuts.

Chestnut (and hickory) harvest is in full swing; we're about 1/3 of the way into it. The 80°F, flooding rains and high winds of a few days ago (we got off easy, only 4.3" in 24 hrs) brought down a huge number of nuts. We're almost caught up with the pick up process, and the cool weather now has slowed the drop slightly to let us catch our breath a little today.

We're finding it has been an above average year for chestnuts; size of nuts and crops per tree are both up. For those who persist in thinking it's not possible to grow

"big" chestnuts in places like Minnesota, we offer the following:

Just a quickie photo there; too much contrast, and they need to be held in a human hand for actual scale to be effective. Basically; these are huge, by any standards.

Chestnut harvest is being helped out this year by our horses; we're not using them to pull carts of nuts; we put them to pasture in the mature chestnut groves. Using electric fence, they were confined inside particular rows for a short period of intensive grazing/traffic; usually about 6 days, with some variability for rain.

It was an experiment that turned out extremely well indeed. Of course they mowed the grass, saving us diesel fuel, tractor, and labor costs; but in addition they cleared brush and weeds under the trees where the tractor mower cannot go, saving huge amounts of human hand labor, and their hoof traffic proved highly effective in flattening the ground surface.

Over the years, the ground under the bigger trees has been getting rougher and rougher, from a variety of causes, right down to earthworm castings (which can build up in one place over the years, with no tillage). The rough surface has made it very labor intensive to get the nuts picked up. We use "Nut Wizards" now extensively, and great as they are, they are still not able to pick up a nut out of a hole or next to a big bump.

The horses really flattened the ground, though they needed a little watching to be sure they didn't over use one area, or pound a place into mud in rainy weather. Our Friesian stallion has extra large hooves, typical of the breed, which I think made him more effective, and with less actual soil compaction.

Illinois Harvest Pictures

As promised, here are a couple of pictures of the Illinois harvest:

Here is most of the crew, gathered around the full harvest at sunset on the second day.

The harvest pile from a different angle. I'll try to post some pictures of it drying in our upper greenhouse; it covers most of one of the 40'x6' tables. As Philip said, this was around 20% or so of the nuts that were originally on the bushes; it was a pretty late harvest for that field. Even so, there were a number of outstanding bushes and parental lines still holding on to a substantial crop, and still ready for a shaker-based harvester. We'll soon be starting to coordinate machine-based harvest there and at Badgersett Farm #1, as well as insuring that both places get some fertilizer this fall.

Chestnut Harvest! Come help next weekend!

Hello folks,

The main chestnut harvest is starting in earnest. We're doing just a little more cleanup and mowing under some of the trees, but the horses are out (having done their part in a few rows), and now as you walk through the chestnuts you hear mostly two sounds: bluejays, and nuts dropping.

It's early enough this year that we're unlikely to get any problems with an early freeze, and if we don't get any serious wind in the next couple of weeks it should go pretty smoothly.

We'll do a farm-work harvest event next weekend, September 25-26. There will be PLENTY of chestnuts to pick up- it can be a sight to see.

I'm still over-busy, but I will get pictures of the Illinois hazel harvest up before too long. It was about a ton fresh unhusked (deer and squirrels had gotten quite a bit by the time we got there)- still enough to start the next level of machine and market development, though. (Also, don't forget- we'll buy your nuts this year).