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Hello from Mountain View. The severe drought conditions that the majority of Australia has been experiencing are continuing to have a major impact on this years chestnut harvest in North East Victoria with a generally late start to the season and a light crop expected. Usually by mid March we are flat out with the harvest in full swing but this year we (and our pickers) are scratching around for something to do. The shed is ready, the packaging has been made up and stamped and everything is ready to go. Only problem is there's very few nuts coming into the shed! I'm sure the nuts will fall eventually but we are starting to worry that the trees might collude and fall all at once. We have been very careful to plant a selection of early, mid and late harvesting varieties so that our season is spread but this year that planning has gone haywire to say the least.
Contents Farm Name Change Mail Orders Carbon Sequestration Special Dinners
Farm As mentioned in our last newsletter, water remains our main focus at the moment. In early March we were very lucky to get 55 mls of steady warm rain from two events which was most welcome. It's a little late to really help the harvest although the late harvest varieties such as De Coppi Marone are looking much better. We had a number of trees that were looking very poor from moisture stress due to the hot dry summer and the rain has been a real fillip to them. It's amazing how virtually overnight the colour of the trees changed from pale green to a deep much more healthy looking colour and the branches sprung back up. Hopefully the nuts will size up a bit as well.
When we were in Cuneo, Italy in 2002 for the " Fiera del Marrone", local grower and our wonderful host Guido Bassi took us to visit a grower in a small village nearby called Chiusa Pesio. The grower had a very good tasting, easy peeling chestnut (as well as some lovely home made wine, but that's another story) that has been named after the village. Joe Rinaudo, a well known North East Victorian chestnut grower (who has recently sold his orchards and retired) brought this chestnut variety to Australia. This year, we will harvest our first "'Marrone di Chiusa Pesio" nuts off our 3 year old grafts. They are very similar to De Coppi in nut characteristics but we are hoping they will be better to grow than De Coppi which is renowned for breaking branches and even trees splitting in half due to winds as the weight of the crop increases prior to harvest.
Name Change We have two main entities for our business. One is Mountain View Chestnuts and this is our orchard and all our fresh nuts are sold under this name. The other is The Australian Chestnut Company and this is the owner of our brand Cheznuts - our frozen peeled chestnuts and sweetened chestnut puree. We have decided to change the trading name for our processed chestnut products from The Australian Chestnut Company to "Australian Gourmet Chestnuts". The name will come into effect on 1 April and although it will take some time to change over our packaging, if you do see Australian Gourmet Chestnuts then at least you'll know it's still us!
Mail Orders We are currently taking mail orders for this year but the De Coppi will not be ready for dispatch for another couple of weeks. Estimated date for first orders will be Monday 16 April.
Carbon Sequestration - Why chestnut trees are good for our environment Although Brian recently stepped down as Chair of the National Chestnut Association, he still represents the chestnut industry on the Australian Nut Industry Council (ANIC). This is a national body with representatives from all Australian nut industries including Almonds, Walnuts, Hazelnuts, Macadamias, Pecans, Pistachios and of course Chestnuts. At their recent meeting in Sydney it was agreed to conduct a desktop research project into the amount of carbon sequested from the atmosphere by the cultivation of tree nuts. As chestnut trees are very long lived, it is believed that during their lifetime they play a substantial role in reducing carbon levels in the atmosphere. If the research project supports this hypothesis, then not only will nuts be of significant nutritional value but growing tree nuts will prove to be an environmentally responsible method of food production.
Special Dinners How chuffed we were to open the April 2007 edition of Australian Gourmet Traveller to find a photo of Chestnut, Cabbage and Pancetta soup (page 26). It is featured in the Reader Dinner that is to be held at Rockpool in Sydney on 7th May. Not only is it great to see chestnuts featured prominently but it makes us very proud to be the chestnut suppliers to such a highly regarded restaurant. The menu for the dinner showcases dishes from Good Food, Neil Perry's new book and the rest of the menu sounds equally delicious. The $110 price tag includes a $10 donation to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation so you can try some fabulous chestnut soup whilst supporting a great cause.
Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer also hosted an Autumn Harvest Dinner as part of the Melbourne Food and Winer Festival recently. They too featured our chestnuts as part of the dinner menu and proceeds from that function went to the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. This foundation focuses on teaching young children the joy of growing and eating good food and in this day and age of fast food and pre-packaged everything it is more important than ever that children learn how food grows and the pleasure of preparing and sharing meals.
Until next time
Jane
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