Green Valley Real Estate
Green Valley Chestnut Ranch
Information
The Green Valley Chestnut Ranch has planted over 800 trees all originating from this original mother Chestnut tree. The Colossal variety is an exceptional chestnut with huge, sweet nuts, averaging eleven chestnuts per pound. The Green Valley Chestnut Ranch was originally established in 1854 as a historic Gravenstein apple ranch. In 1981, the Dabel family planted six acres of Colossal Chestnuts (with Nevada variety pollinizers). Depending on weather conditions, the Colossal variety Chestnuts grown on the Green Valley Chestnut Ranch are harvested by hand in October and November.
Each year during the Spring season we crank up the John Deere Tractor and plow the soil on the Green Valley Chestnut Ranch. Tilling the orchard brings deep moisture up closer to the root system of the chestnut trees. Occasionally as the soil is turned over, it reveals relics left by previous residents of the historic site.
In the photo on the left are a few of the obsidian and chert arrowheads found on the ranch in recent years. These were left by the Russian River Pomo Indians as they walked across the ranch while hunting for small game, deer and elk. Of course, there were no Chestnut Trees in Green Valley back then, the settlers planted mostly apples.
The photo on the right is a collection of artifacts discarded by the first generation of settlers who came to the Green Valley Chestnut Ranch in 1854. Shown in the photo are antique bottles, a broken horsehoe and pieces of porcelain dishes.
All of these ancient artifacts remind us that we are only temporary caretakers of this rich and fertile land. |
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