YOU'RE INVITED!
3rd Annual Chestnut Restoration Celebration
Saturday, October 13 – 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Heartwood Artisan Gateway, Abingdon Virginia, Exit 14, I-81
American Chestnut Seedling (Photo credit: U.S. Army Environmental Command)
Learn the status of chestnut restoration. Enjoy a new slant on chestnuts by storytellers. Discover the delightful taste of roasted chestnuts. Savor refreshments by Heartwood staff. Win potentially blight-resistant Restoration Chestnut seedlings – 3 pairs to be raffled. Support restoration of the mighty American chestnut!
Free tour of chestnut breeding program and wildflower walk at Glenn C. Price Research Farm in Meadowview, VA, Saturday, October 13 – 10:00 a.m.-noon.
Event tickets starting at $25 for adults and $40 for families. For tickets or more info: [email protected] or call 276-944-4631. Sponsored by the Southwest Virginia Restoration Branch of the Virginia Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation©.
During the past 20 years, the American Chestnut Foundation has bred chestnuts from the few remaining “mother” trees that survived the blight of the early 1900s crossed with the blight-resistant Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima). Slowly, these hybrids are being bred back to pure American chestnuts in order to produce trees that are over 90% genetically American, but that have picked up the crucial genes necessary for blight resistance, with the goal of producing a tree that can be reintroduced to its native range and thrive. Volunteer Training Site-Catoosa (VTS-C) has become a significant partner in this effort with its new chestnut seedling orchard.
Learn more about American Chestnuts here.
Visit the American Chestnut Foundation website here.