By reviving a historical crop, one farmer has a plan to feed the community while stewarding the land into the future.
Jono Neiger is trained as an ecologist and conservation biologist, who approaches farming from an ecological perspective. For him, the relationships between the land, the abutting river, and the plant species create the farm, and trees play a central role in his vision.
Neiger says, “I’m looking at tree crops and perennial crops as part of a forested ecosystem. [In New England]…it makes sense that we start to rely more on crops that come from trees. We already turn maple sap into syrup and use a lot of lumber, but we don’t eat as many nuts as we could in our diets.”
Neiger started planting chestnut trees in 2018 on land in Sunderland that was previously Riverland Farm. The farm is now known as Big River Chestnuts.
He explains, “Eating food from trees and growing tree crops builds carbon in the soil, stabilizes the soil, reduces erosion and creates other benefits for pollinators and birds. The trees provide many benefits in addition to the food we’re eating.”
Chestnuts are a staple crop with primarily carbohydrates and vitamins, which are considered beneficial in the human diet. Neiger explains that the trees offer many benefits for the ecosystem and for our local food system.
The chestnut trees grown by Big River Chestnuts are blight-resistant cultivars. They are not native trees because the America Chestnut fell to a blight in the late 1800s-1930s. While American Chestnut saplings sprout in area forests, this pathogen kills the new growth and the trees die back every few years.
“There are no blight-resistant American trees. We have trees that are blight-resistant because they have primarily Chinese genetics,” says Neiger. “Numerous chestnut species have been selected and hybridized to create this agricultural crop. The American chestnut is a forest tree that would be 100-to-150 feet tall, a big giant of the forest. Our trees are smaller orchard trees that are more like 30-to-40 feet tall.”
Neiger balances farming and science when growing tree crops.
He says, “We use agroforestry methods of intercropping chestnuts with small fruits and integrating livestock, which enhance biodiversity, soil health and ecological resilience.” The vision sounds complicated, but the land is a pastoral composition of trees, edible berry bushes and grazing livestock in the understory. Neiger says, “It’s an orchard with a meadow area, that’s mostly chestnuts, but there’s a lot happening out there. We’ve planted some paw-paws, persimmons, elderberries, willow.”
The details of how Big River farms are as important as the production of the crops themselves. The farmer explains, “That tree line over there is the Connecticut River — we’re in the floodplain of the river. Instead of tilling next to the river and doing really intensive agriculture, which can lead to erosion and water quality issues in the river, we’ve created a forest, which also produces food. It is essentially a perennial-crop buffer zone.”
Taking a page from an approach known as silvopasture, Big River Chestnuts works with other partners to graze sheep below the trees. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, silvopasture can reduce soil erosion, improve nutrient cycling and keep the animals healthier.
The local chestnuts grown by Big River Chestnuts are larger and sweeter, can store well, can be cooked into many dishes and be ground into flour.
Neiger adds, “We have a lot of diversity here, but we’re primarily trying to grow food commercially and provide food within our communities in an ecological way.” The farm is building a processing hub that they and other nut growers will use to grind chestnuts and other local nuts into flour.
Home growers can purchase chestnut trees from Big River Chestnuts. Neiger notes, “We call them seed nuts.” The farm stand sells potted chestnut trees and seeds of selected trees. While the trees might produce nuts in the first three-to-five years, a more substantial crop is anticipated in six-to-eight years. The trees can live for hundreds of years.
For Neiger, growing chestnuts in alignment with the land and water that surrounds it brings him joy. He says, “The trees are just really beautiful. Being out in the orchard brings me a lot of joy because it is so full of life.” Beyond the natural elements, connecting with community is at the heart of Big River Chestnuts.
Neiger continues, “I also find joy at the market, where we’re cooking the chestnuts. We send people home with fresh chestnuts that they’re going to cook. I often ask people what they’re making. We get people with all different cultural backgrounds who come from around the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, across Asia and elsewhere. They have family stories about how they cooked chestnuts, ate chestnuts or how their grandmother went with them to harvest chestnuts.”
He concludes, “The cultural connection and the stories that surface when people are eating chestnuts is really amazing.”
Chestnut Festival
The farm welcomes the public to visit during the fall for their Chestnut Festival on Saturday, Oct. 10, and Saturday market days. Chestnuts are roasted for visitors, and the public is welcome to walk the land, getting a firsthand look at this diverse, edible landscape as harvesters bring in this year’s crop.
Big River Chestnuts is located at 195 River Road (Route 47) in Sunderland. Their farm market runs on Saturdays into December (weather permitting) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Roasted chestnuts will be front and center, with other vendors like Forestopia, who offers acorn chai and other tree crop products, like glazed nuts and various nut flours.
The Chestnut Festival on Saturday (rain date Sunday, October 11) runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Big River Chestnuts. The day offers chestnut roastings, cooking demos, local music and art, and farm tours. See Big River Chestnut’s Facebook, Instagram pages and website at bigriverchestnuts.com.
Lisa Goodrich is a Communications Coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). For more information on local farms and local food, see buylocalfood.org.