Hello, everyone here on the #hive blockchain. If you're wondering what those little golden nuggets are that I've used to spell out #hive, wonder no more, they're BLACK WALNUTS a prize we've been after for the past four years.
Around 12 years ago we cleared two acres of forest to start a Black Walnut plantation
With hours of hobbitizing invested over that time period, the plantation now looks like this.
As these magnificent trees have matured, aging has triggered the production of the tree's seed, the Black Walnut. Four years ago these trees started to produce walnuts. When they first appeared just a few trees had a limited number of nuts hanging from their branches.
If I were to guess, fewer than 100 grew that year.
Since that time, more and more appear every year. Last year the number of walnuts hanging from the branches had tripled from the year before and at that point, we decided it was time to start harvesting those protein-packed nuggets.
As we waited patiently for them to mature the squirrels decided they were good to go.
In a matter of a day or two, they had stripped the trees of almost every nut, leaving only a few handfuls behind for us.
These are the little thieves. Their agility and strength amaze me. They perform a high wire act with no safety net. During this time of year, they are busy gathering food that they will tuck away for the long winter ahead.
Thank goodness, what you see this red squirrel admiring, is a pine cone and not one of my nuts. Let me rephrase that, one of my nuts one of the Walnut tree's nuts.
From year to year, #Mother #Nature decides what she will provide in abundance and what she will skimp on. This year she has decided that it's The Year of the Pine Cone.
Could it be that the sheer number of cones strewn from the conifers have kept the larcenists so busy that they have yet to heist my goodies?
Whatever the reason being, I'm thrilled that the red squirrels plunderers have not raided our Walnut Plantation giving us the opportunity to gather the fruits nuts of our labor.
Mother Nature has also decided that this year she would correspondingly make it The Year of the Black Walnut.
The trees are puking walnuts.
When harvesting walnuts you want to make sure they are mature. In this neck of the woods, the walnuts will reach full maturity by the begining of October. This photo was taken on the 25th of August and we decided to take a gamble and let them ripen some more.
Of course, we would be keeping an eye out for any squirrel activity.
By the 5th of October, the walnuts were ready to harvest.
They had passed the dent test.
What is the dent test, you ask?
Before the walnuts are ready to pick the outer husk will be as hard as a rock.
When the walnuts are ripe you will be able to press on them with your thumb and you will feel the husk give a little, leaving a small dent.
Many of the walnuts needed to be clipped from their stem with a telescoping pair of sheers.
Other clusters of walnuts could be picked by hand.
The number of walnuts that we gathered from a single tree was astonishing.
After a single day of harvesting, we realized that there may be plenty to go around, but we still wanted to gather all that we wanted before the red squirrels invaded the plantation.
Because this was the first year we truly had enough walnuts to process, I did some research on how to remove the husk in a timely fashion. There was more to the entire process than we had imagined. Allowing them to cure before removing the nut from its captivity was stressed in every article I read.
I came up with my own technique for removing the outer shell and if you find this post interesting you might want to stay tuned for PART TWO.
I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did, and if you have any, SHOW ME YOUR NUTS.
Wow, it's great to see the abundance and quality of your walnut harvest. Congrats!
Yes, I am eager to see how you free the nuts from their outer shell.
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 16/96) Liquid rewards.
What a treat reading your blogs @thebigsweed! Your patience certainly paid off and the nut plantation looks beautiful, and that bumper crop of walnuts has been well worth the wait! Our friend @papilloncharity is always writing about his little squirrel friends, thank goodness they were more interested in the pine cones.
It's very interesting seeing what they look like when they're ready to be picked; I'm so sorry we never planted at least one nut tree in our garden, I think pecans do well here.
I'm very interested to see how long it takes for your
nutswalnuts to be ready for some of @farm-mom's desserts!Thank you for sharing this with us #silverbloggers @thebigsweed!
Thanks for such a nice reply.
We've finished picking all of the walnuts we can handle for this year and there're still hundreds left for our furry friends.
If they're willing to share so are we.
When we planted the walnut trees, we never gave much thought about the walnuts that we would also have, kind of like a surprise.
@farm-mom already has big plans for the walnuts. I know that the first thing she will use them for is to add them to our homemade maple syrup and drown some french vanilla ice cream with them.
(I'm very interested to see how long it takes for your nuts, walnuts to be ready for some of @farm-mom's desserts!)
I'm glad some #hiveiens have a sense of humor, Robin scolded me a little for the nuts reference, but I figured what the heck.
Have a wonderful day!
I knew that oaks and acorns did that - had several low-bearing years and then BAM, ACORNS EVERYWHERE - but I didn't realize it was a thing for other trees too, which was silly of me now that I think about it. 😅 This was really interesting as I've never seen black walnuts still in the husk before!
Your post was like a sightseeing work through you Black Walnut trees and so pleased your reaped an abundant harvest. I have to ask - What are you planning to do with all your walnuts one you get them out of the outer shells? My mind is in a buzz with ideas like store them for winter, use them in cooking, eat them as they are a very healthy nut or sell them. I daresay you must be able to get a good price for bucket loads of fresh good quality walnuts.
Regards Angie
Hello there Angie, thanks for stopping by. From what I've read, we should be able to preserve them for a year or more if they are properly stored, vacuum-sealed, and placed in a deep freezer. @farm-mom already has a dozen ways she plans on using them, and at the top of that list is to mix them with our homemade maple syrup and drown a bowl of vanilla ice cream in them.
We will also use them in bread and some stirfry meals.
I never realized just how pricy walnuts are. The cheapest price I could find was $15.99 a pound when they are out of the shell.
Take care my friend!
You are on a gold mine of health and wellness with home grown walnuts and yes they are very pricey to buy. I have learned to freeze my walnuts so they don't go off which is what i found they do if left on the shelf in the pantry.
Walnuts, organic home made maple syrup and ice-cream sounds divine. Have a wonderful day.
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Fantastic post! I am so excited to get at those nuts, can't wait to soak 'em in our maple syrup and pour it over french vanilla ice cream. We have been waiting awhile to have these nuts get big enough and plentiful enough to really enjoy. So cool, it's been a wonderful year .
🌰🐿🌲
I have a few stories to tell about the one black walnut tree and those effing "plundering" squirrels we had in the backyard in the house where I grew up. They are more to do with my brother and me, pellet and bb guns, and mom's laundry day than harvesting black walnuts!
Boom! I was going to ask what goodies Mrs. @thebigsweed aka @farm-mom planned to make with the bumper crop of walnuts. Question answered! Yum!🍨😋
Now you have me wondering...
Is there some kind of grown up alcoholic drink you can make using walnuts? In the good old days we'd have to wait go to the library and use a card catalog to
🔎search for answers🔍
Thank goodness for Google!!!!✍
A couple quick clicks later we have an answer:
NOCINO, the black walnut liquor
Well that definitely is a new libation to me. Sounds Italian. Says it tastes a little bit like Jaegermeister, but milder.
BONUS for you homesteaders.
The recipe calls for maple syrup!
I know you guys have gallons of that!
🍁🥞💯
Here's the recipe for NOCINO: https://foragerchef.com/nocino-black-walnut-liquor
If I didn't know any better I'd think that's a television on the cover except the rabbit ears are upside down. Do you ski in them things?
hehehe, you are right it does look like a tv with ears.
It's even funnier now that someone agrees with me.
Listen "silver-smoothy", I could tell you stories, I was a skier since I was 7 years old, I skied mostly in Vermont, Upstate and NJ. But my best adventure was in Austria, I was a junior in high school and went there on a class trip, wow, skiing those majestic mountains was fab U lis.
I tried many times to teach the sweed to ski, he just always felt more comfortable in the lodge. Drinking hot toddies .Oh the pains of growing up.
Now that you mention it, the cover image does look a lot like a television, black and white of course. I've tried skiing back in the day, but once I started to pick up speed there was no stopping until I reached the bottom of the mountain and crashed landed.
The last time I tried skiing I ran through the safety fencing at the bottom of the mountain. No injuries but I decided not to push the envelope.
Ah man, think of all the people at the bottom who aren't nearly as entertained since you hung up the slalom poles.
My skills or lack of them always provided some great entertainment for those in the area, except for the poor suckers I bowled over. Their reaction was very different.
The squirrel love what they love, who wouldn't like it?
They are beautiful, and the squirrel loved good things too
We just happen to love the same thing, walnuts.
Hahaha, I don't think I had met you guys in 2019, as I also did some posts about picking macadamia nuts. It was a constant battle with the squirrels unttil I figured it out.
Now I didn't have one of your fancy telescopic pickers and I had to climb the trees. A bit difficult at 4am in the mornings in the dark.
Yes, I got up before the squirrels at harvesting time and picked hundreds of macadamias and their outer shells are as hard as steel.
To be fair I left a fair amount of nuts below the trees for the squirrels.
I am glad that you guys had a bumper harvest.
!BEER and !PIZZA
@papilloncharity, sorry! You need more to stake more $PIZZA to use this command.
The minimum requirement is 20.0 PIZZA staked.
More $PIZZA is available from Hive-Engine or Tribaldex
More than likely we will not be around when the trees are big enough to bring to market. Our intention when we planted the trees was to leave some hard assets for our children. Black Walnut lumber is a prized wood and 20/25 years from now the trees should fetch a good buck.
When we first planted them we never thought about the walnuts that the trees would produce, so that is like a bonus.
Climbing trees is a young man's game which I loved doing as a kid. If I need to reach higher than my arm will allow, climbing a ladder is a lot safer.
Thanks for the beer and pizza my friend, always appreciated!
A sure investment that you planted there and yes indeed the nuts are a huge gift. Just the trees way of thanking you.
I also like how you spelled out the nuts into HIVE here. Very clever.
Never put a limit on your lifetime my friend as it is not in our hands and should you guys strike the 90's you will see those trees taking care of your grandchildren's needs, I hope.
Hahaha, I am only 67 now and I can still climb on the roof without a ladder, giving Marian many fits when she comes to look for me 🤣
Sadly not since the knee is acting up and now this is going to be a long story, as we had to cancel the operation today.
Blessings and !BEER and !LUV for Lady Robin.
<><
@thebigsweed, you've been given LUV from @papilloncharity.
Check the LUV in your H-E wallet. (2/5)
My understanding is that black walnuts are very messy to deal with, staining stuff black/brown....
You've got that right. I sprung a hole in my rubber gloves and have been trying to wash off the stain for several days now.
@jerrytsuseer suggested trying borax, and the next time I'm in town I will have to get some.
I remember growing up, seeing the commercials for "20 mule team" brand Borax. It was a laundry detergent that was touted as something that would "brighten your wash" and since I got my stash of it (that was because friends on you know where told me it was also a good way to kill or control "sugar ants" in my kitchen (worked too!) mix it in equal amounts with sugar, dust the corners and crevices of your kitchen.
Since the ants went bye bye, I've been adding a little bit to each load of laundry, along with the liquid detergent.
I hope it gets the stains out @thebigsweed. Thanks for the mention
Those walnuts would be good in some banana nut bread!
Totally agree, we've been on a roll making zucchini bread and I'm sure that will also work. How about homemade maple syrup with walnuts for a topping over ice cream. 😁
@thebigsweed got surely the biggest nuts around here 😁. I did have walnuts too, but nothing like yours.
Joke's aside, I need one of these telescoping sheers, very practical! I really enjoyed the comic touch, lots of efforts put in, sir! Good job!
Thanks my friend. The telescoping sheer works great.
In the next few days, I'll be putting a post together on dehusking the walnut. I came up with a system that saved me many hobbitizational hours.
I'm happy you enjoyed this post, lots of effort was put into the processing and the blog. Both were loads of fun.
Have a swell day!
Yep I did enjoy it for sure, please don't hesitate to tag me once you got your dehusking post up.
No problem!
Your walnut grove looks really nice, you would think someone was grooming it or something... 😀
Thanks, some hobbitazitional time was spent in the walnut grove, and it's now paying dividends.
Wow great post! Amazing how many beautiful walnuts we got this year. The last line made me laugh!
Here is the visual of what I was saying today when I saw you!
From $10,000 to $20,000 in 9 beautiful count!
TEXTBOOK 📘
Part #2 in another reply look for it!
Spot on, those 10,000 hours sure are paying off now. 😁😁😁
We've got walnuts.
You liked the last line, your mom not so much.
I REFUSED TO BE CENSORED! 😁😁😁😁
Hodl has been our motto and there is no way we're changing any time soon.
THEN WE DO 15 weeks of parabolic rise!! Notice how the count never reset to a red #1 or could the system keep counting green numbers ( parabolic) .
Part#3 next
Parabolic, I like that word. Great seeing you yesterday.
It’s amazing how the land looks in the beginning…kinda like a forest fire rekt the place. And now
it also looks like a forest 10 years after that forest fire 🔥. Where the shit looks healthy as hell!!
Owen in middle
It's hard to believe what it looked like in those early days!
Part #3
The golden nuggets are organic homegrown walnuts!
Part #3
A 2 trading above a 1 is a long trigger and how to trade this system. So long now . These are weekly candles 🕯 so strong signal. If we get textbook 9 count ….. then 10-15 weeks of parabolic like early in this cycle!
……….FREEDOM (MEL GIBSON) America 🇺🇸
There you go again using my new favorite word, parabolic.
Yay! 🤗
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