The MU Center for Agroforestry will welcome families from throughout central Missouri later this month for its signature field event, the Missouri Chestnut Roast Festival at the Mizzou Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Farm (HARF) in New Franklin. The event is free and open to the public.

“We are excited to offer many new opportunities for families to taste and purchase agroforestry foods,” said Gina Beebe, Research and Educational Program Specialist at the Center for Agroforestry. “Our state is a leader in agroforestry, and this event showcases and celebrates our numerous agroforestry farmers and the organizations that support them.”

This year’s event will take place 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 18, at HARF, and will include crowd-favorite activities such as roasted chestnut samples, live music, kids’ activities and tours of the historic Hickman House. This year the festival also offers opportunities to buy a local, fresh lunch prepared by Pasta La Fata, take a wagon tour of the research farm, purchase plants and trees, pick your own pumpkin, sample custom-made agroforestry ice cream flavors crafted by Buck’s Ice Cream Place, and explore more than 30 agroforestry vendors, educational organizations and artisans.

Exhibitors include Missouri NRCS, MU Extension, Missouri Nut Growers Association, Master Gardeners, the Forest and Woodland Association of Missouri, the Midwest Forest Farming coalition and many more. See the full exhibitor list here.

The live music lineup includes Noah Earle Music and the Ironweed Bluegrass Band.

“October is the peak of harvest season at HARF,” said Ron Revord, director of the Center for Agroforestry. “It’s a beautiful time of year to welcome our community out to the farm to showcase our many decades of tree crop research while educating families across the state about the value of Missouri-grown nuts and fruits in agroforestry systems.”

The Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Farm is the primary research site for the Center for Agroforestry at the University of Missouri. This nearly 700-acre farm includes numerous experimental nut (chestnut, black walnut, hazelnut, northern pecan, ‘Bucks Unlimited’^TM oak) and fruit orchards (peach, pawpaw, elderberry); five lakes and ponds; and one of Missouri’s oldest brick homes, the 1819 Thomas Hickman House, which is on the National Register of Historic Homes.

HARF is located at 10 Research Center Road, New Franklin, MO 65274, and is one of 14 properties comprising the Central Missouri Research, Extension and Education Center, part of the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station.

For more information about the Missouri Chestnut Roast Festival, visit the event page on the MU Center for Agroforestry’s website.

For more information about additional events at HARF, including a Hazelnut Workshop on Oct. 17, visit the MU Center for Agroforestry’s events page.