This week I was using our lawn mower to clean up the yard. Kind of a once a month weed cutting and leaf mulching chore. For the first time in the ten years we have lived in this house I was struck by how many nuts we grow around here.
I have mentioned the black walnuts several times. They are green when they fall from the tree and the ones in the picture are just a little smaller than a baseball. After they lay on the ground for a few days, they begin to turn black and you can see that on the one on the right. The black part eventually falls off and leaves a hard shell with a walnut inside.
We also have several hickory trees. The outer shell of the hickory nut is very hard, thick, and just like a round wooden box. It is in segments and falls off leaving the softer shell with the nut inside. This is a favorite of the squirrels and we can hear the hard shells falling from the trees all day long.
The pecan crop in our yard is pretty good this year. In most years the worms get to the pecans before we can pick them up. This year, we seem to be ahead of them.
My favorite nut in the yard is the acorn. Most of the oak trees around here are in the woods, but we have a couple of them at the edge of where I mow. In my very limited experience, the larger the tree, the smaller the acorn.
very educational post - and it made me laugh! :)
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