they are a member of the walnut family, [Juglandacae]...
can easily grow to be 100 feet tall...
and were a commonly planted shade tree in the mid 20th century...
which is probably why my neighborhood is rife with them...
they can be a nuisance as far as what they drop...
sticky nectar & blossoms in the spring...
leaves, branches, hulls and nuts in the late fall, early winter...
quite a mess if you aren't going to harvest the nuts...
not to mention all the nuts dropped by birds that sprout into trees...
in every flower bed, container and the occasional lawn sprouting...
so I wasn't too surprised to see the guy on the corner facing the circle...
having the 3 that surround his house cut back early this fall...
the timing surprised me, as the harvest approached...
but to him, I guess avoiding the mess was more important...
I was kind of disappointed to miss out on filling my pockets...
with his unwanted crop in the early winter...
when the winter storms would knock the ripe nuts to the ground...
for me to harvest during my walks around the block...
especially this year when I can't afford to buy nuts...
and the gleaned crop would have been welcome...
but also for the next couple of seasons...
when, as a gardener friend of mine commented...
the cut back trees would produce very little...
as the nuts ripen on the tree, the hulls open...
strong storms shake them onto the ground, along with the hulls...
commercial pecan growers use shaking machines to "drop" the nuts...
then use large sweepers to gather them, shaking out the debris...
bending over and gathering by hand is more "low tech"...
is easier if you are young and limber...
and is a universal method for gathering up many kinds of nuts...
including walnuts and almonds...
the goal is to end up with this...
and so far, I have about 4 pints of nuts in the shell...
if they look as though the shell has just cracked...
I will gather those too...
breaking open the paper thin shell with my fingers...
so shelling them is much less work than it is with walnuts...
and after being shelled...
the nut meats will keep in a storage bag in the 'fridge...
for quite a while until I can toast them for salads...
or use them in baked goods...
another storm is supposed to come through today...
so I'll take a bag with me on my next walk...
how does that saying go...?
"if it's free, it's me and I'll take 3!"...
No comments:
Post a Comment