Old Man of the Forest

Foodstuffs are just the beginning of a chestnut tree’s utility. They grow fast, and when full-sized are practically lumber yards with roots. They regenerate lost limbs with astonishing speed, and so became ready, self-replenishing resources wherever they grew. Of course you could cut one down and use it for planking too, but regenerating chestnut shoots grow straight and strong, and as such are useful for pole roofs, grape trellises, all sorts of things.

A single tree can become a renewable resource for many human lifetimes. Some chestnut trees can live for literally thousands of years. The one pictured above, The Great Chestnut of Mount Aetna in Sicily was 120 feet across and said to have been planted in during the height of Roman empire. This sketch was done in the early 1870’s.