Sunday, September 27, 2009

Black walnuts .....


I have a black walnut tree right in front of my house. When the house was built, this was the lone tree in the field. I insisted that it not be cut down as it provided the only shade we had. This is the last tree to get leaves in the spring and the first to lose it's leaves in the late summer. It does provide some nice shade in the summer, but right now it is providing me with an excess of black walnuts.


I went out this afternoon and picked up eight buckets full. They were falling almost as fast as I was picking them up. It's a dangerous chore - if you are hit on the head by one of these large, hard nuts, it can cause quite a bump. They have to be picked up before I can cut grass, since they can damage the blades of the lawn tractor.


They can be eaten if you want to go to the trouble of going through the outside hull and the inside hull to get to the nut. I'm not a big fan of black walnuts, so I toss them in the gully where I throw sticks and limbs from the yard. I used to think maybe the squirrels would get them since there is a squirrel's nest in the tree above the tossed pile. Even the squirrels must not think they are worth the trouble, since they've never eaten any.


The tree is close to the house, so walnuts will fall on the roof. Sometimes when a bunch fall at once, it sounds like someone is beating on the house. I've even thought someone was knocking on the door and discovered it was only falling walnuts. Once they all fall, hubbie will need to go on the roof and clean them out of the gutters.
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To amuse myself while picking up walnuts, I count them. (OK, so I'm weird.) This afternoon I picked up 867 to make a total of 2054 for this year. The tree has at least that many more still to fall. Looks like I'll be gathering nuts for awhile yet.

7 comments:

Patty said...

Oh wow, I wish I had some of those. I would pick them out and freeze them to make all sorts of goodies!
(yes, I know they are a lot of trouble but oh they taste so good)

KathyA said...

We've got a few black walnut trees at the edge of our property. The squirrels can't make a dent in the hundreds that drop. I'd crack them open, but have you ever seen what they do to your hands!!!??? And it doesn't wash off!

Unknown said...

When I was young my family lived in a house that had THREE of those obnoxious trees in the backyard. Of course it fell to us children to pick them up so my Dad could mow. They are so messy!!

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

I have one in my front yard. We used to collect and eat them but there were so many that most of them went to waste. It's a shame because they are so good.

basicliving@backtobasicliving.com said...

You are so funny! I can't believe you count all those nuts! Wow - that's one prolific black walnut tree. We have several around the property, and a few in the yard, but most don't seem very healthy. The nuts are pretty small. But the nuts that fall in the drive get run over, and the husk breaks off them eventually. The squirrels know this, and all along the drive is covered with the shells from squirrels eating the meat out of them. Smart little things!

Unknown said...

The tree sounds beautiful! I'm not sure about eating the walnuts though!


There's an award for you at my blog :o) Please pick it up when you can!

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

I almost got hit on the head today from a hickory nut. They're not quite as big as the black walnuts.

Where I used to live, we had a black walnut FOREST. You couldn't even walk when they fell because you'd break an ankle. You can play baseball with them though.

There's a market for them though, you know. Somewhere around here, they will buy them from you. Since you're picking them up... Google it and I'm sure you can find the place.

www.GreenerPastures--ACityGirlGoesCountry.blogspot.com