To our valued customers:
Thank you for your support.
We don’t ask for reviews. But many of you have taken time to write us about your pleasure on receiving and enjoying our chestnuts. Those letters give us reassurance.
It was not a sure thing, planting chestnut trees in Kansas 27 years ago. Success has been mixed with failures. Many trees failed to prosper. Insects and pests take a toll. Weather has set us back. Just this August, a violent windstorm broke the tops out of dozens of trees.
Notwithstanding all the setbacks, this year we reached our benchmark goal of full production, filling our walk-in coolers with our largest chestnut harvest ever. Our bigger challenge in 2021 was finding enough help to gather, wash, sort, inspect, bag and refrigerate the large harvest timely, and to process orders, re-inspect, pack and ship the chestnuts to your tables. A big thanks to our hard working staff. To our customers, thanks for being patient.
We remain convinced that growing tree crops is a better kind of farming. It is often repeated: chestnuts are the corn that grows on trees. I say: every calorie from chestnuts is one less calorie from crops which require intensive tilling and inputs (like corn). Your choice to eat chestnuts betters the environment. Trees preserve the soil against erosion, sequester carbon, buffer the water in our streams and cleanse the air we breathe. The fruits of trees nourish our health as they satisfy our appetites and please our taste.
We do not guarantee that you will like our chestnuts. But a lot of people do. The proof of our chestnuts is that most of our customers are repeaters.
After 27 years, it’s nice to know.
Charlie
Charles NovoGradac
Author