I can’t think

I can’t sleep

I can’t finish a sentence

Or process a thought

I cannot cry anymore

My tears are drowning in fear

I cannot live anymore

Will death release me from this torture?

How tempting it is to grab that extended hand to my left

Will time heal?

Correct?

Mend all this?

Am I cheating myself of eternal peace?

If I touch only the fingertips will I know the answer then?

With moving to our own property and bulding the house this year, I have not been able to do as much foraging as I would like. However I have been spending a lot fo time drying foods for the Winter. Despite the hectic life we have had this Summer, I have been able to venture out and discover some cool trees on the property and recently discovered an over abundance of Black Walnut Tree. I have managed to locate 6 so far along the branch. I picked up about a bushel or so just from two trees and there was plenty still on the trees. I should have plenty of these wonderful tasty nuts for the Winter.

There are several ways in which one can de-hull these nuts and store them for the Winter. I always pick the walnuts up from the ground as soon as I can after they fall from the tree. I never pick the nuts from the tree. Nature knows when they are ready and when they release themselves and fall to teh ground the beginning of Autumn…they are ready.

After picking up the nuts in their hull, I take them to the driveway. There I toss them out so cars can run over them for a day or so. When they are black and the hulls are loosened from the nut, I adorn lovely platic gloves and begin removing the hull from the nut. I just throw them all in a bucket and they head for the bathing. I wash the nuts, clean of any wormy things and debris. After this, you should lay the nuts out to dry in the sun. Make sure they dry thoroughly before storing for Winter.

Place the nuts in a basket or container with small holes for air circulation. Store in a cool, dry place and they will last for up to one year. You can crack the nuts and store the meat in jars or you can put them in bags and freeze them. For those of us without electrcity, storing whole in the root cellar is perfect. I will post some recipes later in the recipe section for black walnuts.

Pics from this year….