Wasting Walnuts
Each fall there is no escaping the crunch of the smashed hulls of fallen black walnuts under our tires as we cruise back and forth in our cars along Pasturegate Lane. For those of you who don’t know what a black walnut is, it is a generic term for the wild walnuts native to North America. Black walnuts are related to hickory nuts and butternuts. There is one main species east of the Rockies, one of which grows along Pasturegate Lane between the horse stables and the “Honeymoon Suite.” Every Autumn this tree provides a bounty of nuts that typically are left to rot on the ground. This year I considered picking up the fallen walnuts and processing them rather than letting them go to waste. Ever eager to learn,…