Skyline Chestnuts

It's a first! We'll be open on Thanksgiving this year. The weather looks good. There are still chestnuts to be found. Come on by for some fresh air and fresh chestnuts. Yes, we'll be here Wednesday, too. Gates open at 9:30am both days. We'll close at 4:30 pm on Wed and Noon on Thursday. Maybe you can finally try that chestnut stuffing recipe you've been dreaming about...

We're still getting fresh chestnuts falling from the trees, so, YES, we will be open Saturday at 9:30am. Thanks to the fires and smoke this summer, we have less than half the crop that we normally have, so we have been selling out early on Saturdays. Best to come early or pick a different day. As this point, we expect to be open Sunday morning, possibly Wednesday, and maaaaayyyyybeee Thursday morning if the chestnuts are still falling. Why not plan a family outing for the holiday? Just be sure to check back here BEFORE driving up.

It's very windy. We don't want any branches dropping on your head! So, we'll be closed Wed, Nov 18.

Saturday October 31 (Halloween) posting at 10:30 AM We are SOLD OUT for the day.

Friday October 30th Update We had a huge rush of people excited to take advantage of our opening of the season, and unfortunately the number of people has exceeded the number of chestnuts available. Customers are damaging the trees and coming out with few chestnuts and too many empty burrs. We are recommending that you wait to come until next week if you want to get a lot of chestnuts.

We're open! Come on up (and bring a mask)! The wind knocked a bunch of chestnuts out of the trees, which is great, but it's not a clear indication of how much will be there this weekend. There's plenty to pick up right now. See the graph? It's meant to convey that the harvest doesn't come in all at once on opening weekend. It ramps up, and then it trickles off. So, it's always a great idea to check back here for the latest update before driving up. That's especially true this year since we don't know yet how the smoke may have affected the crop. Please read the additional details in comments below.

HARVEST UPDATE: The crop does appear to be there, up in the trees, but it won't be ripe and ready by the weekend of Oct 24. So, we are delaying another week. We'll aim for Oct 31. Please check back here for an update BEFORE you drive up. More details to follow in the comment section below.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: There are still no chestnuts yet this year. Opening is pushed back at least one week. We are now aiming to open Saturday, October 24. The crop of chestnuts may have been damaged by the dense smoke which engulfed the orchard during peak growing season. We don't know yet. If we are lucky, the season is simply running late this year. BEFORE you drive up to the orchard, check back here for updates.

Skyline Chestnuts will be opening on October 31st for the 2020 chestnut season... Please be advised that this past growing season has been hard with drought and then a nearby major forest fire. As a result, the crop this year may not be as large or as many as in previous years. Your understanding is appreciated. Update on Friday October 23: ... Just walked through the orchard and There is still nothing on the ground. Looks like there are lots up in the trees right now, but they are just not ripe yet. We will update as we see things developing.

There have been many visits to this page in the past week due to the fires raging in our community. The Chestnut Orchard is safe. We are under evacuation orders but the fire lines are a couple of miles away and do not appear to be getting any closer. Hopefully the weather will not bring any more lightning to the Sabnta Cruz Mountains (or California for that matter) and we will not have any new fires starting. Please keep those affected in your prayers. I have many, many friends who have suffered devastating losses from this tragedy. Please keep them in your thoughts.

Morning of Saturday, November 16th. The season is beginning to wind down now, but there are still several trees that have not given up all of their bounty and they are still coming down. It is warm and sunny today and looks like it will be a beautiful day to gather chestnuts... Right now it is looking like we will be open through Sunday November 24th and closing that afternoon for the season. So get on up here before the season is gone until next year!

Friday report going into the weekend. We were hit hard with the wind last Sunday which brought down al to of un-ripe chestnuts. Fortunately there was not a lot of damage to the trees. Bottom line is that we do have chestnuts this weekend, but next week is looking better if you want the big ones. Honey is always available.

Orchard report is that with the strong winds on Sunday and a little lighter on Monday, the chestnuts have been falling like rain (we could really use some rain!) and there are plenty of them on the ground ready to gather. Please remember that the trees are NOT to be touched! Do not knock chestnuts out of the trees because they are not ripe and they will not ripen if they are knocked from the tree. We are open regardless of the PG&E power outages, though you might want to br...ing cash just in case we have a problem processing credit cards (we have battery backups for the credit card processing, but you never know.... ) The one bad thing is that with the power being out, we have not been able to extract any more chestnut honey yet. Hopefully we will be able to in time for the weekend.