Ox Heights

15/08/2024

New Blog Post:

Year 3 of our peach project and we have yield!

21/06/2024

New on the Blog :https://oxheights.com/f/late-june-2024

Send a message to learn more

13/05/2024

Spring has arrived at Ox Heights!

The Chestnuts are always the last to wake up, but they are now starting to stretch their leaves.

03/05/2024

New on the Blog:

Sometimes you just get so excited to finish a project you wished that a few more minutes of critical thinking had taken place...

20/03/2024

New Blog Post:

I'll admit, this winter has been a little perplexing. Our normal winter routine of ice-fishing, skiing and a general break from the orchard was derailed. Low and no snow conditions has helped us get ahead of some spring ...

25/12/2023

Merry Christmas!

I had the pleasure of chatting with Melanie Jones of United Chestnuts as she captures the different facets of the chestnut industry in the US. For anyone interested, our conversation can be heard on her blog here.

30/11/2023

New on the Blog:

November has been perfect, as the weather cooled slowly and I'm very pleased with how well the trees have gone to sleep. The leaves turned brown and now have blown free from the trees.

31/10/2023

A breakdown of our 2023 harvest -

October 29th was our final walk through to collect nuts for 2023. Wind and rain brought the last few to the ground for collection.

18/09/2023

New on the blog:

This past weekend was an exciting series of firsts for the farm.

04/08/2023

New Blog Post:

First of all, a save the date. If you are interested in the projects on our farm we will be hosting a field day on October 7th. This event will be in conjunction with the Presque Isle Conservation District. More details ...

30/06/2023

New Blog Post:

I'll kick off this post with the latest news from our Chestnuts. Pollen has officially begun flying as the musky smell has started to fill the orchard. Marsol is the first to start this year and I anticipate peak pollen ...

12/06/2023

New Blog Post: Can You Guess The Culprit?

They call it scouting. Looking for attackers in the orchard. The question is always "who is trying to eat the chestnut trees?" So, after being gone for the weekend, I saw some serious leaf predation upon my return.

19/05/2023

New Blog Post:

The sleepy chestnut trees are always the last to wake up. That's ok with us as we have now dodged the spring frosts and temps look like they should stay above freezing.

27/04/2023

New on the blog:

A week of unseasonably warm weather drove away all of the snowpack. My body was not ready for the heat! It was difficult working out in the field midday with blue skies and a hot sun.

14/02/2023

New on the Blog -

Maple syrup season has come a bit earlier this year. With sunny days and days above freezing in the forecast, we decided to get a jump on tapping and put out our buckets and taps out last week.

30/11/2022

Information about our direct sales of lamb for 2023 can now be found on our website.

chestnuts and timber

30/11/2022

New on the Blog:

Last day of November and on this blustery day in Northern MI it seemed like a good time to catch up on inside tasks. So, what have we been doing since picking up those last few nuts? November is just a shift in gears for...

01/11/2022

New Blog Post -

Our trees took their time this year letting go of the nuts this year. The Bouche de Betizac trees started dropping nuts on October 5th and we collected the last nuts from them on October 25th.

10/10/2022

New Blog Post -

The anticipation of peak harvest is like a kid waiting for Christmas. My 4 year old asks every day "How many days until Chestnut day?"

21/09/2022

New Blog Post - First Chestnut of 2022 https://oxheights.com/f/first-nut-of-2022

Yesterday (9/20/2022) Silvan and I found our first Chestnut of 2022. We have a cultivar in the orchard called Labor Day and its nuts mature the earliest.

20/07/2022

https://oxheights.com/f/blowing-up-the-orchard

Chestnuts are primarily wind pollinated. But when the wind doesn't blow...

27/06/2022

New Blog Post - First Flowers https://oxheights.com/f/first-flowers-orchard-happenings

08/06/2022

New Blog Post - https://oxheights.com/f/sheep-in-the-orchard-and-some-bombi-repair

A variety of activities around the farm has kept us busy the past few weeks.

26/05/2022

New Blog Post - https://oxheights.com/f/spring-tasks

10/05/2022

New Blog Post - https://oxheights.com/f/peaches-walnuts-sheep

North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education (NCR-SARE) runs grants and education programs to advance sustainable innovation to agriculture.

25/04/2022

New Blog Post https://oxheights.com/f/spring-tree-planting

Proper storage, handling and getting trees planted asap is priority as trees arrive for our planned plantings. If roots are allowed to dry out, get too hot or freeze, tree death can occur. So, keeping the trees cool and ...

31/03/2022

New Blog Post - https://oxheights.com/f/milling-around

I feel like the last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. But good stuff for the trees and farm were happening.

14/03/2022

New Blog Post - https://oxheights.com/f/a-little-trim-for-the-trees

Late winter (March) is the best time in Michigan to get out and prune fruit and chestnut trees. Pruning can reduce winter hardiness so it's best to wait until the worst of the winter is over. Late winter pruning also all...

02/03/2022

New Blog Post - Hello 2022 https://oxheights.com/f/hello-2022

While March might be a little late to welcome the New Year, it is about this time that we start thinking about working in the Chestnut Orchard again. In the coming weeks we will begin our annual pruning of the trees.

24/12/2021

New Blog Post - Wrapping up 2021 https://oxheights.com/f/wrapping-up-the-year

A Merry Christmas from Ox Heights as we wrap up 2021!