Your Donation of any amount enables us to take good care of this historic repository of over 250 young trees.

The grandmother trees were discovered on Gold Rush Era Mining Camps, Ranches and Homesteads from the 1800s and were the best of their time.

The Orchard needs weeding and planting with cover crop to help suppress weeds and give nitrogen to the soil. The trees need compost and coddling moth prevention and the fruit needs picking.

Some of the treasures amid our historic collection are:

Apples * Pears * Walnuts * Persimmons * Figs * Almonds * Chestnuts * Cherries * Grapes * Prunes * Pomegranates * Quince * Peaches * Apricots * Mulberries * Roses * Hops * Myrtle * Cranberries and more.

As you may or may not know, Felix Gillet was the second nurseryman in the state of California. He arrived with other prospectors and soon saw the greater need for more food as the masses arrived in droves to find their fortunes. He earned enough money from his barber shop in Nevada City to purchase Barren Hill (called such because all the trees had been cutdown for use in the mining industry). There he started his nursery and began importing the best food plants of the time, first from France, but eventually from all over the world.

We, the Felix Gillet Institute, have been hunting for, discovering and growing these old varieties discovered on Gold Rush Era Mining Camps, Ranches and Homesteads where they have survived for nearly 150 years, some still bearing fruit!

These amazing trees show great resilience to climate change, making them valuable not only for their historic properties but also for food security.