North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>]

After Lon posted the info about Don Balser's place, I sent it to my son who 
works about an hour away.  Though he was unable to get in touch with Sarah 
Baxter, he called Don and went out there, had a great time.  He said Don has 
been collecting nut trees for 30+ years, and has 20 acres of mature trees 
from all over the world.  Don told him the nuts are for sale at $1 a lb, 
U-pick, so Dave got about 45 lbs of walnuts and another 15 of chestnuts, 
hickories and hazels.  He said Don has not only the biggest walnuts he's 
ever laid eyes on, but also the biggest hazelnuts.  Some of the walnuts in 
their hulls were as big as your fist, and the shells cracked easily.  Dave 
said the hickories had whitish shells like shagbarks and cracked easily, but 
had smooth bark, unlike shagbarks.  There were some black walnuts and some 
miniscule heartnuts, but no butternuts.  Don has maps of the place with all 
the trees listed.  He has some blight resistant hazels, but had gone back to 
the house by the time Dave got to them, alas, as I'd like some for 
Tennessee.
   If any of you live close enough to make the trek, it would be worth the 
trip.  Dave tells me the nuts are almost all down except for the hickories, 
which have barely started to fall.  Don told him that someone from CA had 
collected scionwood from all the trees so that they would not be lost if 
some new owner should bulldoze the lot.  My son's email is 
dave_hudson@juno.com , phone if you'd like some advice on the place, 
360-490-4129  Donna

P.S.  If any of you are interested but not in a position to go there, I 
expect that a good many of the nuts he collected will end up as potted 
seedlings in a year or two and be in need of homes.   Here are the  original 
posts re Don's place:


From: Lon J. Rombough <lonrom@hevanet.com>
Date: October 6, 2006 8:26:17 PM PDT
To: NAFEX <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Cc: Nutgrowers Nutgrowers <nutgrowers@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Don Balser

If anyone lives in Washington state, or can go there very soon, there
is a need to have someone go to Don Balser's place there and collect
nuts.
I was contacted by Theodore Danicki in New Jersey who says that Rutgers
wants to plant walnuts from Don's collection to screen the seedlings
for disease resistance and quality. Don, unfortunately, has reached the
point where he is unable to work the trees any more and can't collect
the nuts. He is going to have to sell his place next year. So someone
is needed who could go to Mt. Vernon, Washington to collect the nuts.
His full address is 1458 Donnelly Rd., Mt. Vernon, WA 98273
If you can help, the contact address is:
Cook College
Department of Plant Biology and Pathology
59 Dudley Rd.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Attention, Sarah Baxter
Correction: The e-mail address for Sarah Baxter should be
Sarab@rci.rutgerts.edu
I don't know how many people will follow through, so if you want to
contact Mr. Balser directly, call him at (360) 424-3157