Walnut Harvest: September 9th, 2012

Daddy with his baby girl Vivian

Today Chris wanted to try his hand at black walnut harvesting.  It's a messy job and I am glad he wanted to do it this year!  He walked around and collected the freshest walnuts that recently dropped from the trees.  He also harvested the spent ones in the hopes of discarding them to a different location to help minimize the black walnut toxicity. We definitely see a difference in the garden with the plants that are located closest to the walnut trees.  We had tomato plants growing one year that looked like it could be in that Verizon commercial showing the bars.  They were in a line with one end near the tree where the growth was very small and unproductive - leading further away to large, more productive plants.  

Here is how we harvest walnuts at the Blue House...

Taking the husk off the walnut

Step 1:  Only harvest fresh walnuts on the ground.  Completely green in color.
Step 2:  Use some sort of mallet/hammer (Chris used a brick hammer and I used a maul in past years) to break through the husk/hull and remove nut
Step 3:  Remove as much of the yellow fibrous material as possible (WEAR GLOVES and old clothes unless you like permanent stains on everything)
Step 4:  Lay walnuts out to dry in the sun for a few days.  Make sure they are completely dry before you put them up for long-term storage.
Step 5:  Let them cure for about a month before eating them.