Planting a Nutty Future: How SilvoCulture Is Cultivating Resilience in the Mid-Atlantic BY TAYLOR LOGSDON GREEN NEWS & VIEWS
A mature chestnut orchard is a special place — the dappled shade, the rustle of leaves overhead, the crunch of burrs on the ground. It’s a productive agricultural system that happens to feel more like a spa- cious forest or city park. Over the past five seasons, I have had the pleasure of helping stew - ard and harvest from a 60-year-old chestnut orchard near Frederick, MD. This orchard, though largely left untended for decades, produces an abundant crop of carbohydrate-rich, nutritious nuts each year — like manna raining from heaven. This annual offering of sustenance has not only attracted our attention but also feeds the wildlife of the area: deer, squirrels, bears, and wild turkeys. Though beautiful in their own right, these are not just trees; they are generational providers, offering food and nourishment year after year. The chestnut is known as the bread tree, a perennial grain that grows not from annual fields, but from long lived trees — resilient, rooted, and regenerative. Across the hills and hollers of the Mid-Atlantic, a quiet revolution is growing, one nut tree at a time. At SilvoCulture, a grassroots nonprofit founded in 2019, we are helping to sow the seeds of a perennial future: a regional economy rooted in nut trees like chestnuts, hickories and hazelnuts (www.silvoculture.org). By blending ecological restoration with local food security and economic opportunity, we are creating a model that revives the land, enriches communities, and builds on ancient land-based traditions. Agroforestry — the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into agricultural systems — has been practiced by land-based and indige- nous cultures around the world for millennia. In the early 20th cen - tury, agronomist J. Russell Smith helped articulate this vision for an American audience with his book Tree Crops: A Permanent Agricul - ture . Smith warned of the erosion he was witnessing across the coun- try from the planting of annual crops, and proposed tree crops as a perennial solution. We are bringing this vision to life in a modern, regional context through practical, community-based action. Building a ‘Nutwork’: Cultivating Chestnuts and Community Chestnuts are central to our mission. Once a dominant tree in the eastern U.S., the American chestnut was decimated by blight in the early 20th century. Today, disease-resistant hybrid Chestnuts — bred from American, Chinese, and European varieties — offer an oppor - tunity to blend forestry with agriculture with annual bearing carbo- hydrate-rich nuts. These hardy, attractive trees can produce 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of nuts per acre annually once mature, fetching premi - um prices in fresh local markets and with the potential for value-add- ed products such as gluten-free flour and even chestnut beer. While getting nut trees in the ground is vital, so is the cultivation of a community of growers, enthusiasts and consumers who can to- gether support and nourish orchards for decades to come. Through workshops, demonstration sites, and accessible guides, we teach re- generative planting practices like swales for passive water harvesting, nitrogen-fixing companion plants, and dense mulching. Fellow nut enthusiast, Matt Grason detailed some of this work in his article, “Building a Nutwork”, which articulates the collaborative effort required to transform low-maintenance, local tree crops into viable staples and economic drivers. We embody this approach by fos- tering partnerships, sharing knowledge, and establishing cooperative
infrastructure. Importantly, we’re not alone in this work. SilvoCulture is part of a growing national movement of organizations working to restore peren - nial food systems and create regional economies based on well-adapt- ed nut and fruit crops. Other groups contributing to this broader ef- fort include the Keystone Tree Crops Cooperative, the New York Tree Crops Alliance, and the Savanna Institute , among others. Together, we form a vibrant ecosystem of innovation and mutual support. In addition, with support from grants like the Maryland Specialty Crop Block Grant and Northeast SARE, we’re identifying post-harvest processing hubs and piloting cooperative infrastructure. We’re plant- ing orchards and food forests with support from the MDA Healthy Soils Competitive Fund, Chesapeake Bay Trust, and Maryland De - partment of Natural Resources. Our annual Chestnut Roast features a chestnut-themed meal, chestnut beer, and talks on agroforestry and nut trees, drawing hundreds to celebrate and learn. Separately, our downtown Frederick roastings bring the season’s harvest directly to the public, where we roast and sell chestnuts during the holiday sea- son, offering a taste of perennial abundance on bustling winter side - walks. From Land Matchmaking to Legacy Through working with a diverse group of stakeholders, we help match landowners with agroforestry stewards, advise on long-term leases for perennial crops, and consult on orchard and food forest de- sign. Our long-term goal? One million nut trees planted across the Mid-Atlantic. But more than just numbers, our mission is to shift how people relate to land — from short-term extraction to long-term re- generation. It’s a model for replication as well as a movement rooted in legacy, where the plantings of today nourish communities for gen- erations to come. As the movement to restore ecology in agriculture gains momen- tum, and more land stewards seek alternatives to conventional pro-
60—PATHWAYS—Fall 25
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