Chestnut Picking @ Mt Irvine, Blue Mountains

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Chestnut Picking @ Mt. Irvine, Blue Mountains

Have you eaten chestnuts?

If so, give the chestnut picker a thought or two when you pop one into your mouth.

Last weekend, a few friends and I went to Mt. Irvine at the Blue Mountains to breathe some fresh mountain air and try our hand at harvesting our own food. The season is in full swing until mid-April and hopefully until the end of the month.


We were met by a wonderful lady, Robin, at Kookootonga Nut Farm , who gave us the basic guidelines on how to pick the best chestnuts:

[ADVERT]- Pick those on the ground. They are ripe and would be sweet.

- Choose the shiny ones which have no air between the nut and the shell. They should be hard to press.

We were provided with pails to drop our chestnut and walnut 'loot', which would later be weighed. Each kilo is $8.00.

So we trudged further up the hill to start our harvest. We found so many chestnuts on the ground, around the trees.


The chestnuts had really spiky, sharp thorns much like a sea urchins. If you aren't careful, you could end up with holes all over your skin. Those on the trees aren't ripe and won't be sweet, but here's a photo for you to see how they look.


Make sure you bring hard working gloves, or you can buy some from the farm.


I didn't realize that chestnuts would come in singles, doubles (twins) or trios (triplets), just like babies.

Our pail was half full when we finished picking and it weighed only two kilos. We paid $16 for our loot, which were placed in a nifty net bag.

It was a wonderful day and I'd recommend it for a fun day with the family or friends. Entrance is free. They are open 7 days a week, from 9am-4pm including public holidays. Check their website Kookootonga Nut Farm for harvest updates before making plans.

Oh, one more note of warning: when squatting to pick them from the ground, watch the butt!

Here's a map taken from the Kookootonga Nut Farm website for your reference.

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