16th Annual Badgersett Field Day

Badgersett Farm, Canton, MN
Saturday, August 18 AND 25!, 2007

...To this year's field day at Badgersett Farm, which will be our sixteenth. This page is up a bit later than we'd like this year, but it's because we've been working hard behind the scenes on a number of changes to make this the most educational, enjoyable, and just plain useful field day we've ever had. We will be updating this page with further details and nailed-down times; check the New on Badgersett.com page weekly to see what's changed. Read up on the new format below, check out the schedule of events, bring a tent and camp out, but most of all come and see because there's just no substitute, and we have some very interesting stuff.

New Tour Format!

One of the most important changes we're making is in the format of the tours; rather than attempting to run general tours hourly and advanced tours on demand, we'll have four different tours in two time slots, morning and afternoon. Thus, everybody will be able to take two different tours. The following is an outline of the schedule of the day, with essentially finalized times. We'll try hard NOT to change the schedule at this point; if it does turn out to be necessary in order to accommodate the oil press/diesel demonstration, we'll post those changes here as soon as we know.

We have a lot of exciting developments to share with you this year, including:

• Biodiesel Oil Press Demo! U of Minnesota professors Paul Porter and Derek Crompton will be bringing their on-farm biofuel oilseed press for the first-ever demonstration of hazel oil used as fuel for a diesel engine.

• Hickories! Badgersett's third hybrid swarm has started showing us some very neat tricks.

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• Big Crops! Many of our younger hazels have started bearing serious crops, and the chestnuts are set for a big year as well.

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• Plants! Due to last year's advances in dealing with the crows and jays, we have substantial avaliability for both hazel and chestnut tubelings.

As mentioned in the Highlights, we have many more tubelings of both hazels and chestnuts available this year than in the previous few years. They're as strong as ever, and picking up your order on the field day is an easy way to get things done! We are also offering a 50% off Field Day Discount on the handling fee for plant pick-up orders. If you plan on picking up a large order, please send us the order beforehand, so it'll be ready to go when you get here.

We will also be selling the very tasty artisanal French hazel oil we've carried from time to time in the past, as well as fertilizer tablets we use for establishment, and the gopher control product we use as the most effective way to get hazels through years 3-5 if you've got pocket gophers. We only sell the high-quality, best-value products we have tested and use ourselves.

Don't let the name fool you; more experienced growers will learn something new on these tours as well. They are suitable for new folks, though. These tours should give you a good introduction to the basics.

Woody Agriculture

An interactive, field version of What is Woody Agriculture? with emphasis on practice and applications.

Hybrid Hazels

The broad basics of what you need to see and know about Badgersett Hybrid Hazelnuts. Particularly suitable for people thinking about establishing hazel fields.

These more specialized tours will be most useful for people who are familiar with the basics. For those of you who are that familiar, there should be enough new information in these tours to keep you from getting bored even if you've attended all of our previous field days and short courses.

Establishment

Tips, tricks, and rules you just plain have to follow to get woody ag hazel and chestnut fields established in a cost-effective manner. How-To and How-Not-To, both of which we're continually researching. Odds are, if you've got young hazels or chestnuts in the ground, or will have them soon, this tour will save you money.

Hybrid Swarm Genetics

Field introduction to the power, process, and implications of hybrid swarm breeding. Particularly useful if you're considering getting hazel plants from somewhere else. You will see a lot of interesting plants on this tour, which will be interesting to academics as well, even if you don't care about woody agriculture.

We'll be hosting the first ever demonstration of hazel oil used as fuel for a diesel engine! University of Minnesota professors Paul Porter and Derek Crompton will be bringing the on-farm oilseed press they're using to investigate the feasibility and economics of on-farm biodiesel production. They'll be using it to press oil from Minnesota-produced hazels, mostly from Roy and Teresa Cerling's field of Badgersett hazels. We'll then be using that oil in fuel for one of our diesel engines; quite possibly the generator we'll be using to run the press. We're very excited about this demonstration of what promises to be one of the best biodiesel feedstock crops available in North America.

As in previous years we'll have a Question and Answer session at the end of the day's official activities. This year BRC's CEO and President Philip Rutter will also be giving a fifteen minute "New and Important" talk just prior to the Q&A, covering the most important current developments, which will not have been conveyed in all of the tours.

Attendees are invited to camp at Badgersett Farm both Friday and Saturday nights. We don't have developed campsites- ground is uneven and it's a hike to get to water or an outhouse. But we'll have some space mowed, some of us will be camping there, and it's the most complete way to experience the woody agriculture ecology of Badgersett Farm.

We have so much to see, it's pretty much impossible to get to everything you might want to see in a day. So we're inviting you to walk about on Sunday and find the things you missed. If we're able to arrange the personnel and have the energy, some further advanced tour guiding may be done late morning and/or early afternoon.

We'll have display tables, literature, and a place to gather and talk with other growers under the hickories in Row S. We'll try to have a staffperson there all day to answer basic questions and hear what you've got to say. Expect this to be a hotspot for lunch, and the gathering spot for the question and answer session.

As in many of our past field days, some of our local Amish neighbors will be here selling baked goods, and this time they should have some produce available as well. It isn't a full lunch menu, but make sure you leave room for these goodies!