Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Walnut Reflections

Carmi's Thematic Photographic 263 is Feeling Reflective. My favorite mirror around here is Lake Siri.

Theda reflects on the mountainside.

Re: The Walnut Problem - I've seen smashed walnuts in the road. Maybe using the Civic in our gravel driveway will get the hulls off without crushing the shells? I prepared a test with two walnuts, puttered around inside, and came out to find that a helpful woodland creature had neatly cleaned one of them for me.




Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions.
~

8 comments:

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

The black walnuts are much harder to crack than the commercially available English walnuts. Wildman Steve Brill has a picture of a heavy-duty black walnut cracker.

One of these days, I'll use a vise to crack some of these, we have them all over the place.

Bob Scotney said...

Squirrels bury them in our lawn. But the nearest tree is over 1/2 mile away. They don't seem to have a problem with cracking them.

Jim H. said...

Looks like tinges of autumnal color are descending on Lake Siri. My favorite time of year just as Fall arrives breaking the grip of the Southern Summer.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Thanks for that link, B^4. Drying them looks to be easy...it's the next step that looks tough.

Bob, squirrels have special teeth for the task. And they need to use those teeth to keep them from growing too long to eat with.

Jim H., it's here. Note all the leaves in the driveway!
~

Glennis said...

That top photo is gorgeous.

Very clever about the walnuts! I grew up with black walnut trees around, and yet I've never tasted one. I used to get the black residue all over my hands when I was a kid, though.

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

Squirrels bury them in our lawn. But the nearest tree is over 1/2 mile away. They don't seem to have a problem with cracking them.

The squirrels gnaw through the shells with comical results.

Gilly said...

That lake is quite stunning!

But what do you do with the walnuts now? Are they ripe? We eat our (I speak for most of the UK!) as nuts. Hundreds of packs sold at Christmas. Nutcrackers to the fore and sit round the fire, or get the cards out and off we go. Well, I don't I don't like nuts, but you know what I mean.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

But what do you do with the walnuts now?

Fair question, Gilly. Black walnuts are much harder to crack, and have a much stronger taste than English walnuts. For now, they need to dry...and then we drive off that bridge when we get to it.
~