News from the Farm
Is almost certainly on the Badgersett Growers Blog, rather than here. It will stay that way until we update our web content management system, so please check there.
Upcoming events at the Farm, events produced by Badgersett, or events that may be of particular interest to nut growers. For details on events farther in the future or the past, see the full events page.
News from Badgersett
Discoveries, innovations, and new products from Badgersett.
-
Coming Soon:
- Capital Funding Drive! Badgersett has been undercapitalized from the outset, and it's been degrading the level of service we can offer, and wearing us out as well. This drive aims to fix that, and we've already made significant progress!
- Our Third Annual 2-day Short Course was a success, and we hope to be making the presentations available on DVD before long. Thanks to all those who attended!
- NEW CHESTNUT PEELING METHOD! We've developed a much faster and easier way to peel chestnuts; check out the video demonstration!
- THREE BIODIESEL BREAKTHROUGHS
PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Release; 8/9/2007
Badgersett Research Corporation (BRC), announces 3 major breakthroughs in sustainable biodiesel production this year; Proof of Principle for their unique breeding process; a Low-Tech Cloning process so farmers can clone their own best plants, and the addition of a third crop option from their work; new Hybrid Pecan/Hickories.
- Chestnut-finished pork for sale! The folks at Grass Run Farm have been feeding their pork Badgersett chestnuts, with exceptional results found nowhere else.
- The Woody Ag Weblog: The most up-to-date news about what is happening on our farm. This includes event announcements, timely reminders for growers with plants and nuts in the field, and sometimes covers why we might be slow getting back to you! The Stories page on the blog also has some detailed tips, not yet in the standard info pages for people who are already familiar with Badgersett and for those of you who have your own chestnut or hazelnut crops.
Badgersett in the Media
News about Badgersett Research Corporation and/or its products, from external sources.
-
Coming Soon: some new, some old, all coverage that you should know about!
- National Geographic
- Post Bulletin post-flood
-
May 27th, 2008, Minnesota Public Radio Article: A great interview and article with Phil Rutter about Chestnuts. Has some photos of Phil and the farm.
February 23rd, 2008 Interview with Phil Rutter: Listen to Phil Rutter, our President, in an interview with AM 950 KTNF radio's segment called Local Food Heros. Click here and scroll down to February 23rd to listen.
New Source for Biodiesel Fuel: KAAL Channel 6 News reports on the first-ever use of hazelnut oil to run a diesel engine, at the very damp 2007 Field Day. This clip doesn't show it, but that hazel oil pulled a car or two out of the mud! - Augieland reviews chestnut-fed pork: Augieland, a prominent food blog, cooks up three cuts from a pig raised on Badgersett chestnuts (by the folks at Grass Run Farm) and writes about his experiences.
- Rochester (MN) Post Bulletin, October 31, 2006: An article about Badgersett's development of hybrid hickories, which will soon be available for sale. (Unfortunately, this is only a paper-based newspaper.)
The Atlantic Article: A New Chestnut: A June 2003 article published in The Atlantic. The article covers a little bit about the American Chestnut Foundation, co-founded by Philip Rutter and outlines some culinary delights of "old-fashioned" American chestnuts.
Chestnuts to Read
There a few new books about chestnuts available which Philip Rutter, Badgersett's President and CEO, was involved in making.
"American Chestnut: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree" by Susan Freinkel follows the story of the people who relied on and have fought to protect the Redwood of the East. It's a very well-researched narrative of the story of this tree, and a compelling read. One reviewer's first response was "A perfect book." !
http://www.amazon.com/American-Chestnut-Death-Rebirth-Perfect/dp/0520247302/
"Mighty Giants: An American Chestnut Anthology". This is a collection of pieces both about the chestnut and about the American Chestnut Foundation. The foreword is by Bill McKibben, it includes selections by Nobel laureates Norman Borlaug and Jimmy Carter, Barbara Kingsolver, and one on the very beginnings of the foundation by Philip Rutter. It's a big deal! You can find this at the site for the American Chestnut Foundation:
http://www.acf.org/e-commerce/categories.asp
"If a Tree Falls" by Douglas Buege. This book is related to Dr. Buege's recent visit to the farm and following coverage on a radio show regarding his investigation into "Rutter's Rule", which can be seen in Bulletin 8 (which, by the way, is on the Info page.): “If It’s Not Dead, DON’T KILL IT.”
The website is always a work in progress, so we've begun a log of website updates and changes. This log might answer questions about where pages have been moved or why things don't look the way they used to.
In the near future, expect to see Badgersett.com migrated to a whole new hosting system. The look will be basically the same, but it will allow us to update content much more rapidly, and will eventually allow "modern" thinks like RSS feeds and a shopping cart system! All of this will be brought to you by Bradley Hughes, our new Manager of Web Services.
News and Events Archive
Visit our archives for past news and events from Badgersett.
For now, older news releases are still available on the old Press Release Archive. This will eventually be migrated to this snazzy new site, but in the meantime look there.