Hudson Valley Nut Fest

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 and and our incredible venue . And we especially would not have been able to do this without the foundational support of and . 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.

There is no one we know who has processed more acorns for flour than our dear friend Mark Ressl. Mark also uses the acorn tannins to process deer hides some of which he uses to make beautiful drums. We are so excited that Mark will be leading an acorn processing workshop at Nut Fest this year!

Also, Mark and Sage run an inspiring project called Giving Trees www.givingtrees.org. Based in the Hudson Valley, it is a project rooted in reciprocity where buying acorn flour helps plant epic nut trees in the region. They will be one of our vendors this year selling seriously delicious acorn products.

Check out Mark’s show this Sunday October 5, 2-5 pm in Rosendale, NY. There will be a performance and everyone is invited to join in and play the drums.
Hope to see you there! 💚

Caught this chestnut weevil in the act at the Sleeping Giant chestnut orchard a couple weeks ago. Think we have a shot of making it onto ?

Although incredibly cute, weevils can be a big challenge for chestnut farmers. Connect with local organic chestnut growers and learn how they’re mitigated the effects of weevils at Nut Fest, now only 7 weeks away!

Thank you for an awesome day of chestnut harvesting! These trees were planted in 2018 and are doing beautifully despite the drought this year. Might have something to do with the fact that they’re grazed by ! And having kickass genetics from Route 9 Cooperative helps too.

Reverence 🌀🪾

Pic 1: old white oak- Hudson Valley, NY

Pic 2: hickory graft union- Hudson Valley, NY

Pic 3: ancient chestnut- Piedmont, Italia

Pic 4: inside of an ancient chestnut- Saône-et-Loire, France

Pic 5: activated latent buds of shagbark hickory - Pioneer Valley, MA

Hickories are so beautiful 🌿 This is a particularly thick shelled shellbark hickory that was featured in the cultivar table at Nut Fest ‘23.

Crack nuts and be merry 🫶 featuring our communal nut cracking table, the centerpiece of Nut Fest

At Nut Fest, our goal is to help preserve the old and bring forth the new. One of our favorite parts of the festival is the cultivar table where we like to feature historic nut cultivars preserved by plant breeders, tree explorers, and orchardists. These trees are from the historic Fayette Etter orchard in southern PA, a tree explorer and preservationist from the early 1900s known as the “Luther Burbank of Nut Trees”. He named several shellback hickory cultivars that came from the Conococheague Creek, a historical Indigenous settlement area and trade route. Read more about Fayette Etter and the story of the Keystone Shellback in this article written by one of our friends and collaborator Zach Elfers https://www.nomadseed.com/2022/01/the-story-of-keystone-shellbark-hickory/

Pic 1: Cultivar table featuring Fayette Shellback in the front left

Pic 2: A wide spreading grafted McAllister Hican (pecan and shellback hickory hybrid)

Pic 3: Grafted Juglans regina (Persian walnut) onto a Juglans nigra (black walnut) rootstock

Pic 4: Carya ovata (shagbark hickory) grafted onto maybe a Carya  illinoinensis (pecan) rootstock