Catching up with chestnut harvest news

by Charles NovoGradac November 09, 2018

During the harvest and immediately following, we barely have time to turn around, much less catch you up with the latest happenings at the orchard. Now we are stealing a few moments in a tiny lull before Thanksgiving.

First, the harvest was one of the largest we have had.  It started a week later than usual, just trickled for a week, then came crashing down one windy day.  Our super helpers put up with being called in, called off, then pleaded with to come early-stay late and bring a friend.  Our friends came through.   The quality of chestnuts reflects their work.  The nuts were gathered timely, cleaned and refrigerated promptly.  (Check out the picture of some of our crew gathered at our harvest party.)
Then it rained: 10 inches in a three day period.  The later season nuts still ripening in the trees just soaked it up.  Chestnuts are 45% water, so rain, or the lack of rain, is reflected in the nut size.  Some of the jumbo sized nuts looked as big as eggs.  We are now sold out of that size, but those of you who received jumbos after mid October will see some of these giant chestnuts. (Don’t expect next year to get the same super-size chestnuts!)  This photo of the end of our sizer helps explain how chestnuts are sized.  Jumbos are anything bigger than a "large" and fall out the big hole at the end.  

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