A series of storms was over and there were many walnuts on the ground. This would be the last week of gathering.
And it wouldn’t be easy gathering. On Monday, I was there for 6 hours but only got 4 trees done. I raked leaves and piles of walnuts + leaves + dirt which I sorted through. There are at least a dozen walnuts hidden UNDER this scattering of leaves:
There are still walnuts on the trees:
Thankfully, Justin used his blower around the rest of the trees and the ground dried out a bit more. I finished on Saturday.
Grand total for 2018 = 596 pounds.
Tag Archives: Walnuts
Walnut gathering
I thought I was ahead of the weather window, but no. At Justin’s, it was raining. Nice drive though.
Walnut gathering
The season has progressed. It finally looks like fall.
Rain is expected tomorrow, so I really needed to gather today.
So far, I’m at 334 pounds!
Walnut gathering
I love the Weasel Nut Gatherer!
41 pounds.
Religious experience
So, today was the Blessing of the Animals at church. Hmmmm … I think I should check on the walnuts instead. Beautiful weather, quiet pastoral setting, peacefulness, animals on the other side of the fence.
I’m so glad to have a wagon and the Weasel Nut Gatherer. The tree branches are so low to the ground that stooping is still required – along with banging your head on a branch every now and then.
There weren’t too many walnuts on the ground but look up!
Prying off the green husk results in brown-stained fingers:
Hanging by a thread:
19 pounds. The season begins!!
Chico and walnuts
Today we drove to Chico to have lunch and to explore in some of the shops. 
On the way home, we stopped at Justin’s. He’d taken to day off to work on his landscaping project.
I wanted to check on the walnut trees. There might be a few on the ground…?
A few. The harvest begins!
Nocino 2017 finished!
After 40 days (and a few more), it was time to strain the nocino through many layers of cheesecloth
and put into jars to sit until next June 24, 2018, when it will be sampled for the first time.
RLEHS Sunday Social
The speakers were docents from the USS Hornet, located on Pier 3 in Alameda.
We had a great volunteer turnout for the Throwdown.
L-R: Lyn Pitts, Normajean Thornton, Norma Horrell, Catherine Green, Allie Brown, me. Congratulations, Catherine!
Walnut drying complete
I’ve been rotating bags of walnuts onto the drying screen that Justin put up near the front door every week to 10 days since December. All of last year’s walnuts are now officially dry.
This year’s crop is also stored in the office.
One of Justin’s neighbors has a hand-cranked walnut-cracking machine which means shelling walnuts into one-pound bags goes twice as fast as it used to. Yay! Four bags of cracked walnuts yielded 21 pounds of shelled walnuts.
At this point in the life cycle of a walnut tree, the catkins are beginning to form:
arletelouise 