Virginia Rinkel is an artist who lives in Michigan and likes to work in watercolor and other media. Currently, she is working on an informational fiction picture book about the American chestnut tree and possibly some other species also. 

Chestnut is not a household word in America, as our 4 billion American chestnut trees died in the early 1900's from a disease the scientists named "chestnut blight." More than two generations  have lost the knowledge that these trees ever existed. From Maine to Georgia and the whole way of life they provided, for Americans, especially those living in the Appalachian Mountains. The trees gave their sweet nuts to turkeys, wildlife and humans alike, and their wood was used for making telephone poles, railroad ties, fences, houses, beds, cribs, coffins and much more. Today, scientists continue to make progress in finding ways to fight the chestnut blight disease.  They've discovered some amazing facts.

Virginia even raises some edible chestnut trees. Edibles have a 'tail'. Non-edible horse chestnuts do not have a tail, and will make you sick if you try to eat them. This sets each of them apart. Sometimes I draw the edible chestnut characters you see here below.  I hope you enjoy this viewing this site..