look at what i got

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

I picked up almost 7 gallons of walnuts.. And of course the squirrels got some of their share.. there is a lot more to come.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Very nice! Be sure to send me some Christmas cookies if you bake with them! :dinner:

How long does it take for the "fruit" part to dry up and fall off? Or do you remove it while it is still fresh?

 

[Zass]

I've head that the green hulls will repel fleas. I've used them to stain leather.
Are they English or black walnuts?

I'm accustomed to the native black walnuts, the nuts are delicious, but hard work to get to.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

black.. and you take the green covering off when they are still green.. It isn't easy.
Christmas cookies coming your way Msd.

 

[akane]

I know some people throw them on the driveway and just keep driving over them until the green is gone because they are so hard. There are special spring loaded black walnut crackers.

 

[momofninjababy]

I love walnuts! We had a bucket that was "forgotten" by a neighbor so she threw them on our compost pile. Next spring, we had shoots EVERYWHERE! It takes a while before you get the "fruits of labor" ( or nuts in this case ) but WELL worth it!!! Good luck!

 

[akane]

Black walnut sprouts are weeds. We battle them every year. I would be happy to never see one again. The fast growing wood does have some uses though. They grow straight enough to be small poles and chicken roosts.

 

[dayna]

one mans weed is another mans treasure! lol That sounded weird but you guys know what I mean. I grow a lot of "junk or weed" plants for my rabbits and goats. People think it's crazy, but hey free food!

 

[akane]

You can't feed anything off a black walnut but the nut meat though. The trees also poison many types of plants within the range of their roots. Under the old black walnuts only this one specific low growing weed (that is also useless) manages to survive. This yard is half taken over by that weed too probably because of the stupid walnut tree just over the fence. If it were on my side of the fence it would be firewood. Trying to put in certain vegetables is even harder when your garden is downhill of the giant walnut tree.

 

[MaggieJ]

Black walnuts are wonderful--but a lot of work. I haven't had them for years, but I used to bake with them when I was young.

Reminds me that we have a couple of huge shagbark hickory trees in the back 40 that should have nuts on them along about now. Too bad I can't get back there anymore. I guess the squirrels and chipmunks will make good use of them.

 

[owlsfriend]

I never tried getting the green hulls off before they were "soft". My grandpa had large gravel in his driveway and would lay out the nuts in the tire path and run the car over them, then us kids would pick out the hulled nuts. Gets your hands stained if you aren't careful...and maybe if you are careful.

If you wait until the hulls are soft, you can sort of roll them under your boot and pick out the nut that way. One year I made stain for my brother who is a wood worker. Don't know if he used it or not.

 

[cmfarm]

That is interesting that the green hull stays on the nuts. I am only used to pecans where the hulls dry up and open and the nut falls out. We had a really bad drought the last few years and the trees around here didn't produce anything. This year the trees seem to be loaded with them. We have a large pecan orchard a couple miles down the road and there are several old trees that grown next to the ditch so I go and pick them up. Can't wait until they are ready in about a month.