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Brett Chedzoy manages Angus Glen Farms, a 500-acre beef operation just above the Watkins Glen Gorge.

Much of the farm’s land is in #silvopasture, which is the intentional integration of trees, forage, and livestock.

Brett started planting trees here in 1989, and has been thinning the black locust/black walnut stands for fence posts and sawlogs over the past 10 years.

The trees also shade the cattle on hot days, and improve water quality in the Great Lakes Watershed.

Watkins Glen State Park welcomes 1 million visitors per year, and water quality is extremely important to both the gorge and Seneca Lake below.

We first visited Brett in 2016, and we’re consistently thrilled to collaborate. Huge thanks to Brett and the family.

Comment “chestnut” and we’ll send you more information.

Chinese chestnuts are a perennial crop that helps farms diversify their production and increase overall profit per acre. These trees also help farms adapt to and mitigate effects from extreme weather like drought and flooding. Today, U.S. production lags behind domestic demand, making for an enticing opportunity.

Chestnuts grow best in well-drained acidic soil, with ample rainfall throughout the year. The trees withstand cold to USDA Hardiness Zone 5, but most important is a long growing season: a warm April and a warm September.

We import $60 million worth of chestnuts to the United States each year, and there is opportunity to grow domestic supply for that demand, at both current and projected future prices. U.S. supply in has been small due to the loss of the American Chestnut in the early 1900’s.

Chestnuts are a healthy resistant starch, with a nutritional composition similar to plantains or sweet potatoes. Most people eat them whole, sweet or savory, roasted in-shell. They are also milled into chestnut flour, used for grain-free baking.

Chestnuts negate the tradeoff between agriculture and ecology. These trees produce real sustenance from a managed agroforest. For every person fed for 1 year, chestnuts will sequester 1.4 tons of carbon dioxide.

Comment “chestnut” and we’ll send you more information.

Propagate is an agroforestry project developer and operator helping farms integrate commercial tree crops, especially chestnuts, into working landscapes. We design, establish, and manage tree based farming systems that can be paired with pasture, annual crops, livestock, or ecological buffers to improve resilience, soil health, and long term farm economics.

Propagate provides the technical and operational support that makes agroforestry repeatable at commercial scale. Our work spans planning, technical assistance, project development, and long term management to reduce risk for farmland owners, growers, and partners to help turn tree crops into reliable agricultural production.

Founded in 2017, Propagate has supported agroforestry planning on more than 55,000 acres across the United States. Through regional hubs in New York and Kentucky, we have planted more than 250,000 trees and own and operate a 580 acre agroforestry portfolio across New York, Tennessee, Ohio, and Kentucky. Propagate is a Techstars alum, an Elemental Impact portfolio company, and has been recognized twice on the Inc. 5000 list.

Plant The Trees Podcast 026: Amelia Baxter is the CEO and co-founder of @wholetrees. Now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and link in the bio.

WholeTrees Architecture and Structures uses structural round timber (literal whole trees) to create durable, functional, aesthetically-breathtaking buildings and features of the built environment. The company was founded in 2007 to develop and sell products and technologies that would scale the use of underutilized or waste-trees in commercial construction. This increases forest revenues, and offers green construction markets a new material for the 21st century.

Whole Trees uses species from the classic conifers to rot-resistant white oak and black locust.

We talked about how round timber can be dramatically stronger than milled lumber, designing buildings that feel like forests and how wood naturally calms the nervous system, how black locust behaves more like stone than it does wood, profit plus ecological balance as the definition of prosperity, and how structural round timber can re-shape rural forest economies.

Please welcome Amelia Baxter.

Plant The Trees Podcast 026: Amelia Baxter is the CEO and co-founder of @wholetrees. Now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and link in the bio.

WholeTrees Architecture and Structures uses structural round timber (literal whole trees) to create durable, functional, aesthetically-breathtaking buildings and features of the built environment. The company was founded in 2007 to develop and sell products and technologies that would scale the use of underutilized or waste-trees in commercial construction. This increases forest revenues, and offers green construction markets a new material for the 21st century.

Whole Trees uses species from the classic conifers to rot-resistant white oak and black locust.

We talked about how round timber can be dramatically stronger than milled lumber, designing buildings that feel like forests and how wood naturally calms the nervous system, how black locust behaves more like stone than it does wood, profit plus ecological balance as the definition of prosperity, and how structural round timber can re-shape rural forest economies.

Please welcome Amelia Baxter.

Plant The Trees Podcast 026: Amelia Baxter is the CEO and co-founder of @wholetrees. Now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and link in the bio.

WholeTrees Architecture and Structures uses structural round timber (literal whole trees) to create durable, functional, aesthetically-breathtaking buildings and features of the built environment. The company was founded in 2007 to develop and sell products and technologies that would scale the use of underutilized or waste-trees in commercial construction. This increases forest revenues, and offers green construction markets a new material for the 21st century.

Whole Trees uses species from the classic conifers to rot-resistant white oak and black locust.

We talked about how round timber can be dramatically stronger than milled lumber, designing buildings that feel like forests and how wood naturally calms the nervous system, how black locust behaves more like stone than it does wood, profit plus ecological balance as the definition of prosperity, and how structural round timber can re-shape rural forest economies.

Please welcome Amelia Baxter.

Plant The Trees Podcast 026: Amelia Baxter is the CEO and co-founder of @wholetrees. Now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and link in the bio.

WholeTrees Architecture and Structures uses structural round timber (literal whole trees) to create durable, functional, aesthetically-breathtaking buildings and features of the built environment. The company was founded in 2007 to develop and sell products and technologies that would scale the use of underutilized or waste-trees in commercial construction. This increases forest revenues, and offers green construction markets a new material for the 21st century.

Whole Trees uses species from the classic conifers to rot-resistant white oak and black locust.

We talked about how round timber can be dramatically stronger than milled lumber, designing buildings that feel like forests and how wood naturally calms the nervous system, how black locust behaves more like stone than it does wood, profit plus ecological balance as the definition of prosperity, and how structural round timber can re-shape rural forest economies.

Please welcome Amelia Baxter.

Plant The Trees Podcast 026: Amelia Baxter is the CEO and co-founder of @wholetrees. Now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and link in the bio.

WholeTrees Architecture and Structures uses structural round timber (literal whole trees) to create durable, functional, aesthetically-breathtaking buildings and features of the built environment. The company was founded in 2007 to develop and sell products and technologies that would scale the use of underutilized or waste-trees in commercial construction. This increases forest revenues, and offers green construction markets a new material for the 21st century.

Whole Trees uses species from the classic conifers to rot-resistant white oak and black locust.

We talked about how round timber can be dramatically stronger than milled lumber, designing buildings that feel like forests and how wood naturally calms the nervous system, how black locust behaves more like stone than it does wood, profit plus ecological balance as the definition of prosperity, and how structural round timber can re-shape rural forest economies.

Please welcome Amelia Baxter.

Plant The Trees Podcast 026: Amelia Baxter is the CEO and co-founder of @wholetrees. Now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and link in the bio.

WholeTrees Architecture and Structures uses structural round timber (literal whole trees) to create durable, functional, aesthetically-breathtaking buildings and features of the built environment. The company was founded in 2007 to develop and sell products and technologies that would scale the use of underutilized or waste-trees in commercial construction. This increases forest revenues, and offers green construction markets a new material for the 21st century.

Whole Trees uses species from the classic conifers to rot-resistant white oak and black locust.

We talked about how round timber can be dramatically stronger than milled lumber, designing buildings that feel like forests and how wood naturally calms the nervous system, how black locust behaves more like stone than it does wood, profit plus ecological balance as the definition of prosperity, and how structural round timber can re-shape rural forest economies.

Please welcome Amelia Baxter.

Plant The Trees Podcast 026: Amelia Baxter is the CEO and co-founder of @wholetrees. Now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and link in the bio.

WholeTrees Architecture and Structures uses structural round timber (literal whole trees) to create durable, functional, aesthetically-breathtaking buildings and features of the built environment. The company was founded in 2007 to develop and sell products and technologies that would scale the use of underutilized or waste-trees in commercial construction. This increases forest revenues, and offers green construction markets a new material for the 21st century.

Whole Trees uses species from the classic conifers to rot-resistant white oak and black locust.

We talked about how round timber can be dramatically stronger than milled lumber, designing buildings that feel like forests and how wood naturally calms the nervous system, how black locust behaves more like stone than it does wood, profit plus ecological balance as the definition of prosperity, and how structural round timber can re-shape rural forest economies.

Please welcome Amelia Baxter.

Plant The Trees Podcast 026: Amelia Baxter is the CEO and co-founder of @wholetrees. Now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and link in the bio.

WholeTrees Architecture and Structures uses structural round timber (literal whole trees) to create durable, functional, aesthetically-breathtaking buildings and features of the built environment. The company was founded in 2007 to develop and sell products and technologies that would scale the use of underutilized or waste-trees in commercial construction. This increases forest revenues, and offers green construction markets a new material for the 21st century.

Whole Trees uses species from the classic conifers to rot-resistant white oak and black locust.

We talked about how round timber can be dramatically stronger than milled lumber, designing buildings that feel like forests and how wood naturally calms the nervous system, how black locust behaves more like stone than it does wood, profit plus ecological balance as the definition of prosperity, and how structural round timber can re-shape rural forest economies.

Please welcome Amelia Baxter.

Plant The Trees Podcast 026: Amelia Baxter is the CEO and co-founder of @wholetrees. Now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and link in the bio.

WholeTrees Architecture and Structures uses structural round timber (literal whole trees) to create durable, functional, aesthetically-breathtaking buildings and features of the built environment. The company was founded in 2007 to develop and sell products and technologies that would scale the use of underutilized or waste-trees in commercial construction. This increases forest revenues, and offers green construction markets a new material for the 21st century.

Whole Trees uses species from the classic conifers to rot-resistant white oak and black locust.

We talked about how round timber can be dramatically stronger than milled lumber, designing buildings that feel like forests and how wood naturally calms the nervous system, how black locust behaves more like stone than it does wood, profit plus ecological balance as the definition of prosperity, and how structural round timber can re-shape rural forest economies.

Please welcome Amelia Baxter.

To mill lumber, you need trees.
To justify planting timber trees, you need markets.
The circular economy principles are strong here, and we’re thrilled to partner with @robidecking to grow, mill, and proliferate black locust in the built environment.

To mill lumber, you need trees.
To justify planting timber trees, you need markets.
The circular economy principles are strong here, and we’re thrilled to partner with @robidecking to grow, mill, and proliferate black locust in the built environment.

To mill lumber, you need trees.
To justify planting timber trees, you need markets.
The circular economy principles are strong here, and we’re thrilled to partner with @robidecking to grow, mill, and proliferate black locust in the built environment.

To mill lumber, you need trees.
To justify planting timber trees, you need markets.
The circular economy principles are strong here, and we’re thrilled to partner with @robidecking to grow, mill, and proliferate black locust in the built environment.

To mill lumber, you need trees.
To justify planting timber trees, you need markets.
The circular economy principles are strong here, and we’re thrilled to partner with @robidecking to grow, mill, and proliferate black locust in the built environment.

Black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia is a fast-growing hardwood native to the Allegheny Plateau and surrounding bioregions. The fence posts and milled lumber it yields are extremely durable, and rot-resistant like teak and mahogany.

Black locust grows 1/2” thorns on its juvenile wood, and the trees grow out of them at 5 inches in diameter. The large 3-7” thorns you may have seen are on honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), which is an entirely different tree species.

Black locust lumber is in high demand, and @robidecking is your source for milled boards. For breathtaking structural round timber in elevated architecture, please reach out to @wholetrees.

If you’d like to plant black locust (or other trees) on non-forested land that you own or manage, comment “Locust” and we’ll gut check your land and get you what you need.

Trees → for conservation *and* profit.
Make your uncle Rico proud.

We’ve planted over 150,000 chestnut trees on farms in the eastern USA, and chestnuts are a profitable tree crop for farmland.

We also plant a large array of other tree species for production agriculture, reforestation, and everything in between.

Comment “chestnut,” and I’ll send you more information.

Helianthus tuberosis is a perennial sunflower, selectively bred by Native Americans to produce large edible tubers. They’re a seasonal spring food: boil them until fork tender, and then make some home fries or a root roast.

I’m a huge fan of this tree. We harvest fence posts, mill it for lumber, and plant thousands of black locust saplings every year. It’s great for bees, provides shade for livestock, and it’s a profitable farm asset.

Black locust is native to the Allegheny Plateau and surrounding bioregions. It sends up shoots from the roots, but it doesn’t grow in the shade, so it won’t displace existing forest. It has 1/2” thorns on its juvenile wood, but the tree loses its thorns on trunks and branches over 5” in diameter.

If you’ve seen large multi-prong thorns on a locust tree, that is honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), which is a totally different tree species.

As with most things: you get out of it what you put into it, and black locust requires more active management than pine trees do.

If you’d like to plant trees on *open* land that you own or manage, comment “Locust,” and I’ll send you more information.

Goats eat trees! I grew up with Angora goats, so we were stoked with the opportunity to plant this hedge of willow at @laughinggoatfiber. Willows are a valuable source of potassium, calcium, and tannins, and they provide different nutrients than grass does.

The trees are planted on the outside of the fence, so they can be clipped and thrown when the goats are out on pasture. Ruminant livestock can also direct-browse trees, and willow trees can be eaten 1-2x per year depending on rainfall and the length of the growing season. Other common cold-climate browse trees include mulberry and poplar.

If you’d like to learn more about trees for livestock browse, comment “goat” and I’ll send you the full article.

cc: Tompkins County Soil & Water

American chestnuts have incredible branding: nostalgia, ecology, and patriotism. But they’re not as actionable as blight-resistant Castanea mollissima and mollissima-dentata hybrid chestnuts.

We’ve planted over 150,000 chestnuts on farmland in the eastern United States. Follow along if you’d like to learn more, and send me a message if you’d like to plant *chestnuts that live* on non-forested land that you own or manage.

I love paying taxes. Doesn’t everyone?
The federal and state governments already fund *some* tree planting (not a meaningful amount), but it can be easier and more efficient to just do it yourself.
Take the write off, create an appreciating timber asset, and increase biodiversity all at the same time.

Comment “Timber” and I’ll send you info on the tree species we plant to make this happen.