Nuts!

After gathering nuts but twice, we had nearly a half-bushel of walnuts collected.

The nut crop promises to be good this year. Already we have a basket filled with American Black walnuts from one little tree, and many more still cling to the branches. Hickory nuts, too, are falling in abundance. Now all I must do is gather--and crack--those nuts.

Walnuts are messy because their green fibrous husks cling to the inner shells, and when the fiber is moistened at all it makes a deep walnut stain. This year we'll harness some of that color for woodworking projects to come. Finally we'll be staining--some items--with hues developed right here on the farm.

Walnuts are also problematic in that they are poisonous to some plants and animals. This particular walnut tree is slated for felling because it's located on the edge of a pasture beside the house, one that we would like to use for animals without worrying that the horses may founder from trampling over the walnut-tainted ground.

I've not decided how to handle the walnuts' nut meats yet for this year. Last year I had found an advertisement from someone buying walnuts in quantity, but I have yet to see a similar ad this year. I would prefer to sell them than battle out the nutmeats myself.

We'll take a crack at the hickory nuts again this year--literally. If only I can perfect the technique of extracting the nutmeats without also collecting bits of shell, then we'll be in hickory nut heaven. A couple of years ago, as I was first learning how to tackle this tough nut, I found a gentleman selling the nutmeats online for something like $24.00 a pound, if my memory serves me correctly. Considering the amount of effort it seems to take to extract a single nutmeat, the price actually seems reasonable. The flavor is similar to that of pecans, yet at once distinctly different.

Gathering hickory nuts is cleaner and neater than gathering walnuts. The husks divide into four chunks and fall away cleanly from the nut shells. Nearly all of the nuts we gather are already shed of their husks; the remainder are simple to free: just peel back the quartered husk and release the nut. The mess is created by the vast litter of husks left behind on the ground. I'm thinking of trying to use some of the nut hulls for drainage at the bottom of large planters; they would not decompose fully for some time.

We have numerous shag-bark (and other) hickory trees about the place, and we will hardly make a dent in the abundance of nuts with what we gather. The squirrels will whittle away at the rest, remaining well-fed throughout the winter.

Between the walnuts and the hickory nuts, this farm certainly qualifies as nutty.