just throw them in the gravel driveway and run them over with your car. then pick them up in a few days. Then the fun of shelling them.
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What kind of walnuts are these?
Our are wery different. They popp out of their shells when ripe and fall huskless on the ground.
Allso, our wild leaks produce no seeds at all??
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These are black walnuts, Kristijan.
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I’ll give that a try on an unused part of the drive. Thanks for the tip, I’ll let you know how it works, makes sense.
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As for hulling walnuts we make a board trough the with of a car tire and jack up the truck a few inches slide the trough under and adjust the hight. Then start the truck find what gear you want start throwing nuts on the trough and it will spit them out the back like throwing golf balls.
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Once you run them over and break up the outer husks, let them sit and dry out or they will make a terrible mess.
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Hi Jim,
I saw a guy on line make a tire wide flat bottom trough and he would just drive back and forth in it until the hulls were shattered, then some easy (dirty) hand work. Think I’ll try that approach.
For husking walnuts, we always dumped them in the driveway and drove over them. As a youngster looking for a better way, I tried putting them in an old cement mixer with a couple rocks and some water. It worked ok, but was messy. then made a screen box to separate the nuts from the slurry.
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It’s hard to think about gardening this late in the season, but I always try not to leave my grow beds without cover. In this vein I opt for a sure fire cover crop. For my area winter rye is the answer. It’ll germinate just above freezing and will live through extreme cold. I’ll let it grow in the spring to about a foot, then mow it before rototilling my beds. Not only good for the soil, but it sure is pretty to see when all else is turning to fall colors.
Whoops, I forgot the proof of the pudding (germination).
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Maybe this would be of interest and maybe not ?
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Pepe, I’m gettin kinda sad around here these days. We finished the last watermelon last week. The crab apples will all be gone tomorrow. The peppers will be gone. And I’m down to my last two persimmons. Oh well, there’s good lettuce in the garden. And it’s almost elephant garlic roasting time. If all else fails we’ll sit around and pick black walnuts. Maybe a cabbage or two here in a few weeks. Might even get some oyster mushrooms after this cold snap leaves again.
Thanks for the theme on your leeks—something I never knew about.
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Yes, it’s sobering to see the garden going, Billy. This little procedure keeps me on an even keel, so to speak. I started this in my pre-electric days here. Keep carrots in the ground and add enough dried leaves to insulate from freezing (3 plus feet thick seems to work here), keep them dry with plastic and pray for some snow on top of that. I never tried beets, but I think the results would be similar. Pickled beets were my favorite.
This is this year’s winter crop. I think there’s about 50 lbs in the ground here.
In case you haven’t seen the winter harvesting of carrots, here it is;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlQqj95Lw2o
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My grandfather did something like that with potatoes. May have used straw and some dirt. Not sure of saw dust. That was in his younger days.
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Not exactly wild edibles, but now many meals now of last season grown rutabagas and parsnips has finally show us the way PNW rainforest to grow our own starches.
As alternative to just our woodheat dried beans.
Variety truly is the spice of life.
tree-farmer Steve unruh
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Here’s a follow up on post #259 here. These wild leek stems and seeds sure are hanging on. We’ve only been down to 10 F or so once. Ground not frozen in the woods yet. Freezing nights, but low 40’s daytime for the next 7 -8 days. Love it.
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Actually, I am still munching on the crab apples. The frost has been mild so far. We’ve been pouring dirtcrete walkways and they are doing well, though there was some frost on them this morning. Only patchy frost so far so stuff is actually still hanging in there. Lettuce is doing great and we still get a few wild mushrooms here and there. But more and more, the wild edibles around here are the 4-legged kind. Amazing number of squirrels here this year, though the mountain lions have cut the deer population since they came back in.
I tried the carrot burying thing, but it doesn’t stay cold enough here to store in-ground produce. It’s not really even cold enough to use the root cellar. Except when the tornadoes come over.
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Hi All,
Well, it’s Feb 27, 2018, the snow has melted enough now to expose the wild leek patch and here’s what I found.
The seeds haven’t fallen from the pods yet, which surprises me.
I’ll keep an eye on them and report the happenings.
Pepe
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This has been a great little “experiment”. thanks for taking the time. Erika and the two youngest children set out a 500-600 starts in the garden today. lots of cabbage family stuff and lettuces and onions I guess… I’ve been trying to sleep my life away lately …about 40 minutes at a time between coughing spells…
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Just reading the garden part and laughing I am trying to decide when to start my seed sets so I can plant them in the garden Memorial Day, May 28th for our friends over seas. That is considered last frost here. It just hit me as funny because I think I might start my cabbage seeds this week. This is the first time I have started seeds inside. Well that isn’t totally true I tried tomatoes once about 4 years ago but it didn’t work out so well.
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