There are typically three MNFGA meetings held each year.  

 The Spring Meeting is typically at MSU in East Lansing. The Summer and Fall Meetings are typically at member or business farms/orchards/homes.

MNFGA 2023 Schedule

There are presently 5 events scheduled for 2023:

1. Lansing Home & Garden Show on March 16-19, 2023. MNFGA booth 2013 will display photos of fruits and some nuts to crack and enjoy. It will be staffed by MNFGA members.
2. Spring Meeting and Scion Exchange: April 15, 2023 at MSU’s Farrall Hall, 10:00AM start. Featuring pomegranate growing and integrated pest management speakers, business meeting, grafting demonstration, auction and scion exchange
3. Grafting Class on April 29, 2023, MSU Farrall Hall, 10:00AM start with discussion and then grafting by participants on apple and pear rootstock (pre-registration and fee are required)
4. Summer Meeting and plant purchase at Hartmann’s Plant Nursery on July 22, 2023. All members are eligible for great prices on a large variety of fruit-bearing plants to be picked up that day. Pre-ordering is required: please leave an email at MichiganNutGrower@gmail.com. Noon start with potluck luncheon, business meeting, auction, plant pick up and greenhouse tour.
5. Fall Meeting on October 14, 2023 at the Levi Clark Family’s “Old Brick Orchard” near Gregory, Michigan. Noon start with a cornucopia of fruits and nuts fresh off member’s plants and trees, business meeting, auction and farm tour.

Email MichiganNutGrower@gmail.com for details about any of these events. Guests are welcome, but please note that some of these events require prepayment and registration.

FALL MEETING 2022 is on October 22, 2022

Rogers Reserve: 8072 S. Jackson Road, Jackson, MI 49201

Noon Start with Potluck Lunch

Come join the Michigan Nut & Fruit Growers Association for the annual fall meeting. This event is often highlighted by in season, fresh nuts & fruits from guest and member farms/orchards/back yards/potted plants.

We will enjoy if you can bring a dish to pass for the potluck. If you are uncomfortable bringing a dish to pass, for whatever reason, PLEASE do not let that hinder your attendance. You are most welcome to bring your own lunch or even arrive about an hour late to be in time for the short business meeting, a fund-raising auction and then the farm tour. And, of course, if you have a fruit or nut-related item, you are most welcome to bring it for the auction. It is common to have plants, trees, vines and/or bushes in the auction. HOWEVER, due that there are issues with the Asian Chestnut Gall Wasp (ACGW, Dryocosumus kuriphilus Yasumatsu) and the newly discovered-in-Michigan Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD, Drosophila suzukii), DO NOT bring vegetation or fruits if you are in an area that is in or near a known infected area. We need to limit their spread as best we can.

About Rogers Reserve

From an MSU website: “The Rogers Reserve was donated by Ernie and Mabel Rogers to Michigan State University in 1990. The Rogers were a prominent couple in the Jackson community, concerned with natural resources and food production. In 2002, at the bequest of the Rogers, an endowment was established to support the farm. Funds have been spent improving the farm and constructing Phase I and II building projects with the MSU Office of Land Management. Phase I, consisting of a steel pole building to house equipment, including a chestnut peeling line, was completed in 2005. Phase II was completed in April 2010 and consists of a wet lab, analytical lab, office and restrooms. The chestnut peeling line was purchased from Italy by the Midwest Nut Producers Council, supported by funding from the USDA Rural Development program. It is the only commercial chestnut peeling line in the western hemisphere.”

There is also a fruit separator that has been used very successfully on paw paws and other fruits that need to be separated from their seeds and skins. The building is very well kept and is interesting to see. There is a good selection of tree plantings and studies in the orchard.

Members, guests of members and anyone interested in learning more about growing fruits and nuts in Michigan is welcome to attend, without obligation. However, we believe that you will like what you see and want to join! Afterall, membership is a modest $8.00 per year.

If you have any questions, please leave a message at the “about” tab on this website.

We hope you can attend!

2022 Spring Meeting

MNFGA had an in-person Spring Meeting on April 23, 2022. It was in East Lansing, MI on the MSU campus in Farrall Hall.

The Meeting began at 9:30am with a business Meeting.

Our first presenter after the business was completed was Bill Nash of Nash Nursery in Owosso. Bill gave an excellent PowerPoint presentation that noted and described a surprisingly long list of fruits and nuts that grow well in Michigan.

After the potluck lunch, there was a grafting demonstration, fundraising auction and a scion exchange.

We enjoyed meeting in Farrall Hall again. This was our first Meeting on campus since Spring 2019.

2021 Summer Meeting…See the “Recent Updates” section to read a review of the Smith Farm Event

August 14, 2021, Saturday, Noon

Bruce Smith Farm, 10886 Mason Drive, Grant, MI 49327

We will start at noon, August 14, 2021, with a potluck meal.  Please plan to bring a dish to pass, personal tableware and your own chair (and a folding table if you do not wish to eat from your lap).  MNFGA will furnish coffee and water.  We will have a short business meeting and then on to the farm tour. There will NOT be an auction.  The tour will involve walking around the orchards, so please bring comfortable, weather-appropriate apparel. Our host is a successful chestnut grower. He also has an interesting method to repel deer. 

If the weather is wet looking, we will have a tent and we will still trod though the rain to see the farm, only a downpour or serious lightening will stop us! 

If you are uncomfortable with the potluck meal from a virus or allergy standpoint, please plan to bring your own sack lunch…no one will mind and we will be happy to have you there.

COVID-19 rules?  PLEASE, if you do not feel well that week or that morning, DO NOT attend.  Error on the side of caution for your sake and that of your fellow MNFGA members.

More information will be in the upcoming MNFGA News.

We are looking forward to seeing all of you, and your guests, who can attend!