Chestnut Charlie’s fires up for another season
You know what we eat here on the Plains: sauce-slathered barbecued ribs, mounds of mashed potatoes, breads of our golden wheat. Also: fire-roasted chestnuts. The Midwest turns out to be a darn good place to cultivate chestnut trees. And there’s a surprise oasis for the food that’s close to home: north Lawrence. That’s what Charlie NovoGradac has discovered since he and his wife, Deborah Milks, began growing chestnuts at their sustainable, organic orchard.
When NovoGradac founded Chestnut Charlie’s, in 1995, he wasn’t sure that the orchard would make it. But his trees survived a few dicey years and a couple of damaging freezes, and the farm has become successful. Harvest now involves NovoGradac, Milks, and a small army of local paid pickers collecting fallen chestnuts from September through mid – October. Even after this summer’s drought, NovoGradac says, this year’s crop turned out “fair.” At press time, Chestnut Charlie’s had sold through its shipments to BadSeed Market. (See chestnutcharlie.com for availability at area KC and Lawrence stores.)
