New York Nut Growers Association 2018 Fall Meeting

The fall meeting of the NYNGA will be held on Saturday, September 15, at two locations. It is open to members and the general public. The morning session starting at 9:30 will be held at the tree farm of Carl Albers 6499 Wilbur Road, Bath, NY. (This address should work on your GPS; also, see directions, below.) We will see a small planting of hazelnuts that includes seedlings and layers (clones). Master gardeners will discuss hazelnut culture (site selection, soil fertility, hazelnut form, pest management, harvesting, and processing) for home and commercial use. We will tour the tree farm to see a hickory grove, pecans, butternuts, apples, persimmon, and a native stand of black walnuts. There will be a discussion on tree crop management for timber. Peter Haarman will demonstrate hot callusing pipe grafting.

After lunch, we will ride to the tree farm of Steve Lisbin, 3361 Parker Road, Avoca, NY, to see an heirloom apple orchard; a very productive native black walnut tree; 250 English walnuts, both grafted cultivars that are just starting to bear nuts and seedlings, many of which are the descendants of the Metcalf tree via the J.E. Miller Nursery; and a new planting of 40 hazel seedlings from Z's Nutty Ridge. Steve will distribute a tree map to show how to keep track of plantings. Jerry Henkin will discuss stratification of nuts for planting in the spring.

Registration is $15.00 per person and includes a light breakfast, and a sub for lunch. Send a check payable to "NYNGA" to Jim Darling, NYNGA Treasurer, 1300 Spring Street Ext., Groton, NY 13073 - 8711, and indicate your choice of sub: vegetarian, ham, or roast beef.

Dress appropriately, as we will be outdoors for most of the day. Please bring a folding chair if you can, and nuts to share.

Directions to Carl Albers' Tree Farm: Take Exit 39 off of I-86 and head south (towards Risingville) on County Route 11, Babcock Hollow Rd. for approximately 2 miles. Wilbur Creek Rd. is the fourth right turn (west) from Exit 39 (after Nash Rd. and then E.Union Rd.) Head west (up the hill) on Wilbur Creek Rd. Ignore and drive past "Posted, Carl Albers" signs on your left (south side of the road.) The Albers Tree Farm main location is on your right (north side) approximately 1.7 miles after you turn off Babcock Hollow Rd. There is some parking at the farm, along Wilbur Creek Rd. (just on the north side of this narrow road), and at a bus turn around just up the road, also on the north side.

Note: Once you reach the turn from Babcock Hollow road onto Wilbur Creek road disregard your GPS unit if it suggests taking Fulford Hill road (Wilbur Creek road is a seasonal, but open until December 1st road). Just turn onto Wilbur Creek road and continue west for approximately 1.7 miles.

If you have questions about the meeting or travel directions, contact Carl Albers (607) 346 - 5226, cwalbers@yahoo.com.

The Quaker Oaks Tree Crops Revival

A gathering "...of tree croppers, foragers, orchardists, tinkers, value added entrepreneurs, processors, silvaculturists, tree propagators, plant breeders, Ents, foresters, and anyone else who believes that food producing trees just might be useful" will take place on September 14th,15th, & 16th, 2018 at Boley Fields Campground, Blacksburg, VA. See https://www.acornucopiaproject.com/quaker-oaks for details.

Lecture on Pawpaw: The Story of America's Forgotten Fruit

The largest edible fruit native to the United States tastes like a cross between a banana and a mango. It grows wild in twenty-six states, gracing Eastern forests each fall with sweet-smelling, tropical-flavored abundance. Historically, it fed and sustained Native Americans and European explorers, presidents, inspiring folk songs, poetry, and scores of place names from Georgia to Illinois. Its trees are an organic grower's dream, requiring no pesticides or herbicides to thrive, and containing compounds that are among the most potent anticancer agents yet discovered.

Andrew Moore A writer and gardener from Pittsburgh, PA, is author of Pawpaw: In Search of America's Forgotten Fruit, a 2016 James Beard Foundation Award nominee in the Writing & Literature category. Andy will be available to sign his book at the lecture.

Bonus tour-Did you know Cornell had one of the thirteen original Pawpaw Regional Varietal Trials. With three trials removed and two more to cease this year. Last chance to come and visit one of the remaining plantings.

Lecture and tour date is Saturday October 13th, 2018 9:00-3:00 at the Plant Science Building at Cornell and Lansing Orchard.

Fee is $30 to attend and lunch is on your own around Ithaca. Advanced registration is required. http://cceschuyler.org/events For more information please contact Roger Ort at 607-535-7161 or rlo28@cornell.edu

Agroforestry expert

Agroforestry expert Gusman Minlebaev a Russian expert on agroforestry and enhancing the nutritional content of food, gave a presentation at the NNGA Conference in Quebec this summer. Gusman has given lectures on Agroforestry to foresters and food producers in various parts of Russia. He is looking for collaborators in North America, and can be reached at gusalbulg@ya.ru

Here is an article about him: http://erazvitie.org/english/chelovek_kotoryj_sazhaet_derevja._tri_istorii_gusmana_minlebaeva

American hazelnut (Corylus americana) wanted for breeding study

Prof. Thomas Molnar, a hazelnut breeder at Rutgers University, would like to obtain seeds of the American hazelnut, Corylus americana for use in their breeding program. The goal is to select superior individuals for Eastern Filbert Blight resistance, for cold hardiness, and for boosting genetic diversity available in hybrid hazelnuts. The nuts will be grown out by a team of researchers, and the best will be propagated and submitted to the USDA Clonal Repository in Corvallis, Oregon. After a period of quarantine, they will be freely available to anyone who wants to use them.

Here is the protocol for sending American hazelnuts to Prof. Molnar:

• If you have questions before sending nuts, contact Prof. Molnar or John Capik at (848) 932-6330, thomas.molnar@rutgers.edu
• If possible, keep a record of the individual bushes from which the nuts come and their GPS coordinates.
• Place the fresh nuts still in the husk, or clean of the husk, in breathable mesh bags, not in plastic. (Ladies' nylon stockings work fine if you don't have mesh bags.)
• Pack newspaper around the bags to help absorb moisture.
• Send the package by two-day mail to Prof. Thomas Molnar, Department of Plant Biology, Rutgers University, 59 Dudley Road, Room, 164, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. You will be reimbursed for the postage.

Fall 2018 Schedule of Workshops at Singing Tree, Oxford, NY

Nine workshops on homesteading will be offered by Richard Fahey and his family at Singing Tree, 588 Turner Road, Oxford, NY 13830. The Medicinal Herb Workshop takes place on September 3. Other workshops are on nut trees, apples, wild food, and homesteading. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to receive their schedule.

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