​Late last November, (2023) I spent three fruitful and enjoyable days in Pennsylvania at a silvopasture workshop.  As it happened, one of our stops was at a chestnut farm, Castanea, doing much that we’re also hoping to do: growing chestnuts in their silvopasture to take advantage of multiple sheep-chestnut benefits; and processing their nuts in a small-farm facility.  I thought what they are doing is a great example of a simple, low-cost way to process chestnuts at the small-farm scale, so here is a description of what they do – to the extent that I understood it.   Digging back into my notes I found some gaps, which were filled with some Internet research, so this write-up includes some examples from other farms as well. 

One of the plants we love to hate is the pretty Oriental bittersweet (we’re also not fond of Multiflora rose, also pretty).  It grows everywhere - in the pasture clogging up the grass; among the asparagus; up the trees; over the bushes; choking up whole forest parts – and is a noxious invasive.  When I first saw it in my garden in Needham, I cringed at the thought of the damage it might inflict.   My mother used to love the stuff and go looking for it to make decorative holiday wreaths with it.  She did know to stop short of suggesting I plant some though.