Homesteaders

[lazy gardener]

What an amazing picture of your past you've shared. So many special fond memory's, the good and the bad together. I have the utmost faith you'll always have caring and kind thoughts directed to you, and more than a few prayers offered up to Him asking to help you through these times.

It is so hard at times to remember but He is always there. My very best wishes and hopes go out to you and yours.

Amen.

 

[Maeschak]

Anyone here know if I can leave Black Walnuts in a pile on the ground and hull them once the hull starts to rot off? Or do they need to be hulled while still green?

I figure here in the Homesteaders thread would be the best place to ask!

TIA

 

[Beekissed]

Anyone here know if I can leave Black Walnuts in a pile on the ground and hull them once the hull starts to rot off? Or do they need to be hulled while still green?

I figure here in the Homesteaders thread would be the best place to ask!

TIA

Yep, you can do that, but it may go better for hull removal if you spread them out just a little so they can dry out. Easier to get the hulls off that way.

 

[Maeschak]

Yep, you can do that, but it may go better for hull removal if you spread them out just a little so they can dry out. Easier to get the hulls off that way.

Great, thanks so much. I keep reading about people trying get the hull off while its green- and those hulls are tough when they are green!

 

[lazy gardener]

Yep, you can do that, but it may go better for hull removal if you spread them out just a little so they can dry out. Easier to get the hulls off that way.

When I was a kid, we had 2 huge black walnut trees on the front lawn. I spent all summer scrounging around under those trees, looking for fallen nuts. Would crack them on the old granite well curb with a hammer. My fingers were always stained! I never knew they were supposed to be ripe when eaten! I'm guessing they were quite green when I ate them!

 

[Raech]

anybody here raise Sebright chickens vs Dorking chickens? i am down to those two breeds at the moment. i like the small size of the sebrights but like the dualness of the dorking.

 

[Newmamabear]

anybody here raise Sebright chickens vs Dorking chickens? i am down to those two breeds at the moment. i like the small size of the sebrights but like the dualness of the dorking.

I love sebrights.. Still kicking myself for not getting some this year, maybe next... Such plucky beautiful birds

 

[Beekissed]

Great, thanks so much. I keep reading about people trying get the hull off while its green- and those hulls are tough when they are green!

When I was a kid, we had 2 huge black walnut trees on the front lawn. I spent all summer scrounging around under those trees, looking for fallen nuts. Would crack them on the old granite well curb with a hammer. My fingers were always stained! I never knew they were supposed to be ripe when eaten! I'm guessing they were quite green when I ate them!

Yep, those nuts need to dry out and cure out before they are good for eatin'. When we were homesteading, we had several walnut trees in the yard and it was one of my jobs to step on the rotten hulls and remove the nut, gathering them for drying. My shoes and hands were always stained at that time of year, no matter what gloves we wore....hard on a kid to be the only one showing up at school with hands that won't wash "clean'.

I remember that one year we hauled them off to a place that bought the walnuts...had a big machine that hulled the nuts and all.

 

[Maeschak]

Yep, those nuts need to dry out and cure out before they are good for eatin'. When we were homesteading, we had several walnut trees in the yard and it was one of my jobs to step on the rotten hulls and remove the nut, gathering them for drying. My shoes and hands were always stained at that time of year, no matter what gloves we wore....hard on a kid to be the only one showing up at school with hands that won't wash "clean'.

I remember that one year we hauled them off to a place that bought the walnuts...had a big machine that hulled the nuts and all.

Yeah, I guess the only problem I have had in the past (which is what made me look up how to 'properly' do it and then ask here), is that if I waited until the husk turned brown and was easy to get off it was a sloppy mess with maggots and the nut meat was usually rotten. (I don't mind the mess but don't want rotten nutmeat!) I read that the reason this happens is that the husk heats up when the hull disintegrates and that the heat is what kills the good nutmeat.

I cant imagine me husking green Black Walnuts (without a REALLY good process) so I figured I would ask here if the whole 'husk when green not when brown' thing was actually necessary. Im thinking now that I just never cured the nuts properly after husking the brown exterior.

I did read once where a guy put all his Black Walnuts in a dog kennel and then used a power washer to hull his walnuts. Anyone have a nifty idea like that? Ive got Black Walnuts all over the property and am determined not to let them go to waste again this year.

 

[Beekissed]

Don't know that I've ever seen maggots on a black walnut before and I've picked up hundreds upon thousands of walnuts in my day....I think I would have remembered maggots.

We usually just left them lying around the yard until the hulls started to deteriorate a little so they could be easily stepped upon to crush the hull and remove the actual nut. Then the nuts were spread out somewhere dry to let them dry out more and let any juices/hull fibers dry and become more easily removed. After thoroughly dried they were stored in buckets until we could crack them.

I don't know of any nifty tricks to remove those hulls...we always just stepped on them, which popped them open and revealed the nut. I'm sure there are all kinds of machinery and such out there now that could help with hull removal. Some folks put them in the driveway and just run over them for awhile to remove the hulls.