Growing up thirty minutes from the coast of California, I didn’t exactly come from a place where people knew what an American chestnut was, let alone the story of the tree. A love of reading and of the outdoors, as well as the desire to get nearly as far from California as possible, led me to my two-year internship with The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF), and to what I’m sure will be a life-long love affair with conservation and restoration.
I was exposed to the American chestnut by reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer, in which one of the main characters is endeavoring to breed and preserve American chestnuts. As the years went on after reading that book, I began to learn more and more about the efforts to restore the American chestnut in my courses at the University of Vermont (UVM) and my independent research. Naturally, when I saw a posting through UVM for an internship with TACF, I jumped at the opportunity.
As a science coordinator intern, I did a little bit of everything. While there was some tedious pot washing and data entry, there was also the glory of learning to ride a zero-turn mower, the pleasure of planting nuts and watching them grow, and the thrill of hunting for chestnut trees in the woods (a thinly veiled excuse to hike).
A gorgeous fall day at a planting in Merck Forest, Southern Vermont.
My two summers working with Kendra Collins in the New England Regional Office were everything I could have asked for. In my first three years at UVM I had little exposure to the rest of New England. Because of this job, I got to drive all over Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine. What’s more, I got to meet individuals from all walks of life who shared three critical things in common – chestnuts, an appreciation for hard work, and patience.
Looking back, the memories that stand out most are sensations: A cool drink of water during a hard day of planting; juggling bags of moist soil packed with beautiful sprouting nuts; nodding off in the car after a long day of field work and driving; the squish of a blight-covered plug into the tree during inoculation; the infuriating prick of burrs (somehow even through thick leather work gloves); and the taste of tart wild blueberries which so often take up residence in orchards. Above all, I’ll look back on this internship and picture a group of wonderful people in any one of the many orchards I got to visit, sharing a watermelon and their own chestnut stories on a hot summer day.
My time at TACF has shown me the patience and generosity of the human spirit, as well as the resilience of the natural world we call home. I am beyond lucky to have spent two glorious summers in the green shade of chestnut orchards, and will carry the lessons I learned from TACF’s trees and people for a long time to come.