What did you do in the garden today?

[saysfaa]

...Drying some mushrooms for mushroom powder. Great idea.

How are you making it? Slicing and dehydrator? Or something else?

 

[Eagle343]

3rd and final load of black walnuts picked up after work, Should keep my father in law and I busy for a week or three days, which ever comes first. Hull, wash, air/sun dry, then crack, separate nut from shell fragments. Then freeze or cook/bake the nuts. Still working on my set up to make the process easier.

 

[Sally PB]

I have gobs of black walnuts out on the ground. How do you hull and wash them?

My MIL insisted that my trees did not grow viable nuts the first time she visited. No, if the skin of the hull was stippled, there was no nut inside. Well... the squirrels beg to differ.

 

[Eagle343]

I have gobs of black walnuts out on the ground. How do you hull and wash them?

My MIL insisted that my trees did not grow viable nuts the first time she visited. No, if the skin of the hull was stippled, there was no nut inside. Well... the squirrels beg to differ.

There is several methods to remove the hull, a board with a hole in it just big enough to fit the nut not the hull and knock the nut through the hole with a hammer, another method is to use a corn sheller works decently well (I personally use the corn sheller), another way is to smash them under foot using a boot that you don't mind getting permanently stained, these are just a few ways. what ever way you choose once the hull is removed drop the hulled nut into a bucket of water to wash off any remainder of the black ooze usually three washes works for me, this is the step which there is a better way to tell if the nut is filled out as it will sink, if it floats it means its hollow. Let the nuts in the shell dry then you can store them up to 2 years, if you want them sooner allow to dry for 2 to 3 weeks. I know this is a lot to read, and this is a decent amount of work, I think its worth it, then again I seem to like to work on Sisyphus-ish task. I am still working on getting things easier.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Don't rotate tomatoes with peanuts.

Um....Ok. Can you tell me why not? Curious....

 

[TJAnonymous]

3rd and final load of black walnuts picked up after work, Should keep my father in law and I busy for a week or three days, which ever comes first. Hull, wash, air/sun dry, then crack, separate nut from shell fragments. Then freeze or cook/bake the nuts. Still working on my set up to make the process easier.

I have a 4 ft x 4 ft crate full of black walnuts that's about 18" deep. My stepdad built a nutcracker from an old drill press and was using it to process gallons of black walnuts before he died. The nuts I have are going on 4 yrs old since he died on Christmas day in 2019. I wonder how good they stay in their shell if they are kept out of the sun/rain/etc???? I've never tried to open any to check them....

 

[Eagle343]

I have a 4 ft x 4 ft crate full of black walnuts that's about 18" deep. My stepdad built a nutcracker from an old drill press and was using it to process gallons of black walnuts before he died. The nuts I have are going on 4 yrs old since he died on Christmas day in 2019. I wonder how good they stay in their shell if they are kept out of the sun/rain/etc???? I've never tried to open any to check them....

From what I have read 2 years appears to be the max, but I have not tested this out. If the nuts were out of light and too much heat the meat inside may be good, but doubtful.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

20+ gram garlic cloves

What is your secret to big garlic cloves?

. All grown organically.

 

[Loveshorsesandglee]

Picked the pumpkins today and the last sqash.

 

[TJAnonymous]

From what I have read 2 years appears to be the max, but I have not tested this out. If the nuts were out of light and too much heat the meat inside may be good, but doubtful.

Next time I go up to my parents, I'll grab some of them and we'll see... I figure worse case I can feed them to the squirrels.