October 10: Black walnuts
Oct. 10th, 2010 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neverspentYesterday I was sitting out on the front porch at the farm in the late afternoon. There was little breeze, and except for the crows and the occasional sound of a distant neighbor target-shooting, it was quiet and peaceful. On the verge of being too warm. I was concentrating on some work I had with me, but every once in awhile I would hear a thump from the direction of the east side of the house. It was a muffled thudding sound, as if something heavy was hitting the soft ground. For a moment I wondered if my dad was dropping chunks of firewood over the pasture fence, but I saw him inside, so that wasn't it.
Finally I realized it must be the black walnut tree. The seeds of the black walnut, when they drop, are the size of a baseball, but more dense. The actual nut at the core of this huge fruit is a little bigger than an English walnut, and the outside of the shell is very rough. The shell is covered with a thick green rind which turns black as it ages, after the nut falls from the tree. The green rind, I learned from experience as a child, will stain your skin dark yellow, and there is no washing it out. I believe it can be used as a natural dye.
So the thump that I thought was heavy pieces of firewood was just nuts falling from a tree. Big, heavy nuts—lots of them. You can't even walk in that area without rolling around on them like a cartoon character on a dropped bag of marbles.
Finally I realized it must be the black walnut tree. The seeds of the black walnut, when they drop, are the size of a baseball, but more dense. The actual nut at the core of this huge fruit is a little bigger than an English walnut, and the outside of the shell is very rough. The shell is covered with a thick green rind which turns black as it ages, after the nut falls from the tree. The green rind, I learned from experience as a child, will stain your skin dark yellow, and there is no washing it out. I believe it can be used as a natural dye.
So the thump that I thought was heavy pieces of firewood was just nuts falling from a tree. Big, heavy nuts—lots of them. You can't even walk in that area without rolling around on them like a cartoon character on a dropped bag of marbles.