Yes, You Can Pick Your Own Chestnuts In Michigan – But Hurry!
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Forget Apples. We’re Going Chestnut Picking.
Hey Michigan, we have chestnut farms!
Typically you visit, gather chestnuts from the orchard, weigh your haul, and take them home for roasting or cooking. (Some places have on-site roasting)
Apples and pumpkins get most of the attention around here come fall, but Michigan has another claim to fame: we’re the country’s chestnut leader.
Who knew?
Chestnut season is ridiculously short, so these farms are easy to miss. But if you time it right, you can actually head out and gather your own.
The Michigan chestnut harvest usually lands from late September into October, right when the fall colors are doing their thing.
At most farms, you head into the orchard, collect chestnuts from the ground, weigh what you found and take your haul home for roasting or cooking. Some farms even roast them on-site.
Basically, this is one of those Michigan fall things you have to know about before it’s already over.
Michigan Is Surprisingly Big on Chestnuts
So why don’t we hear more about chestnuts in the mitten?
Basically, they disappeared for a while.
Decades ago disease wiped out most of the native chestnut trees, so most people today aren’t familiar with chestnuts.
After a few generations without them around, chestnuts just weren’t something most of us grew up eating.
You also might walk right past a chestnut tree without realizing there’s food in there. The nuts grow inside of very spiky greenish or brownish burrs. Peeling them is a big part of processing.
Now they’re making a comeback, and Michigan is surprisingly good at growing them.
Fun fact: According to MSU, Michigan is one of the top chestnut-producing states in the country. In 2022 our state grew almost 1 million pounds of chestnuts – not shabby!
So yeah. Apparently Michigan has a whole chestnut thing going on.
Where to find U-Pick Chestnut Farms
Ready to go chestnut picking? Looking to pick your own? These local fams welcome chestnut gatherers. Make a day of it and get out into the orchards for some good old-fashioned chestnut hunting.
Before heading out, confirm hours, availability and any picking requirements directly with the farm.
Here are a few farms to try.
Vriezema Chestnut Farm, 2825 146th Ave SW, Byron Center, MI 49315
Vriezema Chestnut Farm is a small farm located just south of Jamestown. They have Colossal Chestnuts in October.
Walking the orchard you will see so many nuts that will have dropped.
They will have plenty of nuts to pick and no appointments needed.
Vriezema will be open this coming week:
Sunday 3 – 5 PM
Monday 1 – 7 PM
Tuesday 1 – 7 PM
Wednesday 1 – 6 PM
Thursday 1 – 7 PM
Friday 1 – 7 PM
Saturday 10 AM – 6 PM
And the best part about picking on a week day is you can use the rollers if they are available.
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Winkel Chestnut Farms, 10788 Garfield St., Coopersville, MI 49404
Winkel Chestnut Farms is tentatively planning to open for U-pick starting Wednesday Sept. 30.
They plan to be open:
Wednesdays through Saturdays: 12 – 5 PM, for approximately 2-3 weeks.
Updates will be posted on their Facebook page.
LaFever Chestnuts, 8359 Turner Rd., Fenton, MI 48430
LaFever Chestnuts in Fenton turns picking into a fun outing.
Join them for U-pick, bonfires, roasting and hayrides.
Ivory Farms, 4843 Steward Rd., Lapeer, MI 48446
Ivory Farms is a family owned and operated chestnut orchard.
They just posted that U-pick will be:
Oct 3/4 & Oct 10/11
10 AM – 4 PM
Lake Effect Acres Farm, 6257 107th Ave, South Haven, MI 49090
Lake Effect Acres Farm near South Haven posted three days ago.
They encourage you to come on out if you’re curious about chestnuts. They will teach you how to gather and give you info on how to store and cook them.
They have about 700 trees, mostly Chinese cultivar varieties but some Europeans too.
They will be open as long as the nuts are falling from the trees, which is roughly 3 – 4 weeks.
Hours:
Closed Tuesdays and Thursdays
Open every other day from 10 AM – 5 PM
What Chestnut Picking Is Actually Like
Sure chestnuts grow on trees but this is nothing like apple picking. If you’re picking chestnuts, you’re mostly gathering nuts that have fallen on the ground.
And you should wear gloves and close-toed shoes because chestnuts come inside extremely prickly burs. Definitely WATCH OUT FOR THE SPIKES.
Using a roller can be super helpful for collecting nuts. See if the chestnut farm you are visiting has some.
What You Can Do With Chestnuts
So what do you do with your haul?
It’s true, the Christmas song about chestnuts roasting on an open fire – people do that because raw chestnuts have a mild, slightly sweet, earthy flavor. Roasting them brings out more of that sweetness and gives them a warm, toasty quality.
Other suggestions are make chestnut soup or stuffing by chopping them. Or you can puree them to make mashed potatoes or sauces for pasta.
A delicious treat is to simmer them in sugar syrup and vanilla. This turns them into homeade marrons glaces or candied chestnuts. Nom.
If you have a lot of them, I’d cook and peel a big batch, then freeze the peeled chestnuts. They freeze really well and you can pull them out later and add to whatever you’re making.
Fall’s Nuttiest Find
So grab a basket, head out to the trees and get ready to fall for one of autumn’s best little treasures. If you act fast, you can be the first in your friend group to pick chestnuts and share the wealth. Once you’ve picked, then peel ’em, roast ’em, bake ’em or get creative in the kitchen.
Happy hunting.
