Virginia Chestnuts

Virginia Chestnuts is a family-owned and operated orchard that has deep roots in the heart of Nelson County, Va. I connect curious writers and news producers with David and Kim Bryant, who hand-planted 1,500 trees to get started. See more about the risk and rewards of bringing back a taste of history. Virginia Chestnuts was recently featured on the food history podcast, Gastropod and in EATER, a digital media company dedicated to fine dining.

The Return of the American Chestnut at Virginia Chestnuts

The route to David and Kim Bryant’s 45-acre chestnut farm meanders through the hilly backroads of Nelson County, terminating in a mile-long gravel drive that winds in alternating sequence through orchards and forests, orchards and forests. Climbing toward the modern cabin-style home and big metal barn, the views turn dazzling. On the horizon, a rising panorama of Blue Ridge Mountains. Mounting the Bryant’s porch, the dappled canopies of some 1,500 adolescent chestnut trees shimmering in the orchards below. It’s getting on toward sunset. The light shafts blunted through soft pink clouds, dusting everything golden. Like a landscape from the pages of Steinbeck—some Joad encountering for the first time the glory of the Salinas Valley.

Featured in Savor Virginia. Author Stefanie Gans

Grown Here at Home: Virginia Chestnuts in Nelson County is back after losing crop in 2020

NELSON CO., Va. (WDBJ) - 2020 hit hard for Kim and David Bryant. They own Virginia Chestnuts. Along with the challenges of the pandemic, they lost their entire crop.

“In the spring of 2020 we had two late freezes and the first one came and we thought, okay, we probably had a little damage to the trees, we’ll be alright, and then the second one came and we had such significant damage that it not only took our chestnuts, but it took the chestnuts for the rest of the county. There were no chestnuts to be found really in Virginia,” Kim explained.

There are about 1,600 trees in the orchard. It was a devastating loss. The good news is things are looking up.

“We had a lot of rain in the month of August, which just couldn’t have been more perfect timing,” Kim said.

Featured on WDBJ7 TV news. Author/host Neesey Payne

Going Nuts over an Old Favorite

David and Kim Bryant considered raising Angora goats, cattle, grapes, apples, peaches, blueberries, and many other farm products. After doing research for several years, they settled on chestnuts, started a company called Virginia Chestnuts, planted chestnut trees. And the numbers worked, sort of. “We wanted to earn enough money to make the mortgage payment,” David explained.

With a 30-year career in software development, David also runs Oak Tree Systems, Inc., a software business, which, for now, “…finances my foray into agriculture,” he says, noting, “Farming is a romantic notion.”

But growing chestnut trees wasn’t all about economics. David yearned to return to his farming roots in Nelson County and the couple wanted a product they could manage in their senior years in the rustic countryside, a product without boom-and-bust cycles. They had to take the long view. It takes a chestnut tree around seven years to begin producing marketable chestnuts and with upfront costs around $20 just to plant the tree, the return on investment is delayed. Once through the initial growing period, a tree can produce nuts for 45 years.

Featured in The Piedmont Virginian. Author: Pam Kamphuis