Beach Plums – The Durable and Delicious Species Plum

Beach plums can grow inland throughout most of North America and thrive under drought conditions and survive late frosts.

The Oaks: Acorns Create a New World

Collecting acorns and growing a wide variety of oaks has been a mission of mine since the beginning of Oikos Tree Crops. Here are a few discoveries surrounding the Quercus genus.

Chestnut Trees-Dropping Nuts From Great Altitudes

The above image shows a young fawn going back and forth from a protected cove on the neighbors property filled with lush vegetation to our rather open property on a hillside planted with hybrid oaks and chestnuts.  Even the turkeys like this area.  When we started planting chestnuts we never knew how long it would …

Continue reading “Chestnut Trees-Dropping Nuts From Great Altitudes”…

Farm to Table Part IV: Roasted Sunchokes

Supercluster  – Now called Red GiantUsually I do my own thing with fresh fruit and veggies, but for the sunchokes, I was curious to know what others had attempted. As usual, I aim to keep things simple. A quick google search instantly pulled up a simple recipe and I decided to give it a try. …

Continue reading “Farm to Table Part IV: Roasted Sunchokes”…

Farm to Table Part II: Thimbleberry Scones

Thimbleberries are interesting to harvest. You have to have very light fingers to not smush the fruit. The proper picking motion is almost like peeling a sticker off a bowling ball. After an hour, it will seem like you hardly have any in the bucket, but the fruit is dense. I was happy to harvest almost two …

Continue reading “Farm to Table Part II: Thimbleberry Scones”…

American Chestnut Wood Bowls: The Celebration of Wood

American Chestnut Wood Bowls can be created using both diseased older trees and larger prunings from standing trees.

Farm to Table Part I: Raspberry & Mulberry Syrup

Is there any greater joy than harvesting fresh fruit or veggies, making a delicious dish and enjoying it with friends? Last week we harvested a batch of Japanese Mulberries, Northern Red Raspberries, Wild Black Raspberries and Yellow Black Raspberries at the farm. Picking Japanese Mulberry It was a hot day, and the bees were out, but …

Continue reading “Farm to Table Part I: Raspberry & Mulberry Syrup”…

Shining a Light on Blight: PART 2

More on the people behind the plants and the origins of blight  and a series of solutions that develop as a result… (To read Part 1, click here). The Plum Guy The Story Behind the Plant:  Ralph loved the idea of a tree crop farm. Having worked in the paper industry his whole life, he …

Continue reading “Shining a Light on Blight: PART 2”…

Shining a Light on Blight: PART 1

Chestnuts: Immune to Blight In 2010, we received an email from a long-time customer who conducted some research he had done on our trees. The research used a group of hybrid American Chestnut trees from our farm, (namely Timburr American Hybrid Chestnut and Ken’s Select Hybrids), to determine the amount of blight resistance and cold tolerance. …

Continue reading “Shining a Light on Blight: PART 1”…

In praise of discovery and the spirit of sharing

Recently at Oikos Tree Crops we have been reflecting on some inspiring stories of plants and people we admire for various reasons. Here are three short stories we think you will enjoy. Mirabelle Plums represent one of the most widely distributed and highly coveted plums throughout the world. Part of the mystique is its label as …

Continue reading “In praise of discovery and the spirit of sharing”…