Technically, it’s nutty season all year at my place. But Autumn is walnut-gathering season. Having a big walnut tree is marvelous. It has kept me with enough nuts for my homemade muesli all year. We just have to keep up with the gathering with wet weather lurking around so we don’t end up with rotten nuts. Wet weather? Yes! Proper Autumn finally arrived, bringing lightning storms, rain, wind and a bit of a temperature drop. A couple of weeks ago we had to buy in water as the tank was getting very low after a very dry Autumn and Summer. I don’t think we need to worry about the tank for the time being. Although, we still have to make water conservation measures a part of our everyday choices. Country folk and Cantabrians who lived through the worst of the earthquakes will be well familiar with the phrase, “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down.” I have to laugh when city folk are horrified at the thought of this, but I probably used to be one of them. Moving along…
We have all been a’gathering, The Husband, the Little Fulla and I. The Little Fulla doesn’t so much gather the walnuts as the grass and leaves, which he tries to make a meal out of, but he makes things interesting. After gathering the walnuts we need to allow them to dry. I have great intentions of trying to dry them in the food dehydrator, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I’ve been too busy frolicking in the Autumn leaves. Yeah, right. Does one frolic whilst doing housework, outdoor work, running after an escaping, crawling, standing child, feeding said child as he eats copious amount of food and exits it out the other end and responding to said child as he has trouble going to sleep by himself all evening? I can’t say I’ve tried the frolicking part yet. Maybe it would help.
Wild Hope Homestead 
It’s amazing what little fingers can find on the ground to pick up isn’t it? And how quickly things go from fingers to mouth!
I am very pleased with our walnut tree. I wasn’t aware of walnut blight, but a quick search suggests that it can be an issue here in humid areas. I will pay more attention to the tree in future just in case. I don’t think I know anyone else who has any kind of nut tree. I suppose they can get quite big, but so can some fruit trees. Maybe people just don’t place that much importance on nuts nowadays compared to fruit. Nuts are too easy to buy from the supermarket, but so much more handy and cheap off a tree. I can’t wait until my dwarf almond starts producing too, but it’s gonna be a while yet.
-Twiglet
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Your description of nut gathering with your little one made me smile – sounds oh so very familiar to life here with little ones! I love walnut trees (and walnuts too for that matter) – so stately. What luck to inherit a mature one – and a healthy one too. Many of the ones I’ve seen have had a type of blight (?). Not sure if NZ is afflicted with the same walnut disease woes. Love the pic of your fur child :).
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