Countdown to Spring – This is More Like It

After a week of staring at the walls and ceiling of my apartment and feeling like a barking seal with an energy crisis living at the equator (translation – coughing, fatigue and fever), I am finally past it and am looking forward to the next few days or gorgeous and, may I add, warm weather.  Warm, as in 60s, possibly even 70.  Yeah, I know, I know, it’s too early, it’s not going to last.  Whatever.  It beats -7°F, doesn’t it?

Our little clipper storm Saturday into Sunday which was supposed to bring 1-3” of snow brought us about 4” locally.  It wasn’t supposed to start until 9 PM, but by 7 PM when I looked out, we already had an inch of snow on the ground, dashing my hopes of a dusting that I could easily sweep away.  Sunday morning, out came the shovel and in about three trips, I had cleared my deck and walkway and then my parking space out to the road.  I didn’t do a great job because it was already sunny and above freezing.  Let solar heating be your friend.  It was, too.  By the end of the day, all shoveled areas were down to bare ground.

It’s been in the 40s during the day the last few days and most of the snow is gone.  Yesterday, it was in the 60s.  It hadn’t melted all the way yet, but it was an 9:1 mix of bare ground to snow instead of 50:50.  By the end of today, well, I won’t even care if it’s not gone.  I’m just going to enjoy those warm southwest breezes.

I did manage a little walking at the end of flu/flu-like things.  Looking up at trees, I am seeing more and more buds at the tips of all the branches.  The pussy willow I walk by to go to the post office is really starting to come to life, with catkins (really, that's what they're called) now starting to peek out from just about every branch.  I have a running permission from the owner to clip a few branches every year.  That'll be coming up soon.

On a sad note, a critter – likely a squirrel – squeezed through the holes of the milk-crate type container that I had protecting my planter with crocuses in it, moved the leaf mulch and had a late winter snack of crocus root and sprout salad on at least half of them.  I suspect squirrel because of the debris pattern they left outside the container and yet still left the container in place.  Ladies and Gentlemen, a round of applause for Houdini the Squirrel!

Only 27 days until Spring.

Countdown to Fall – Aw, Nuts

On my property are two black walnut trees.  They’ve been there since before I was born and are now about 3 feet in diameter.  From them, many nuts have dropped through the years and between Mother Nature’s planting and squirrels forgetting where they left them, about two dozen trees have arisen in various locations.  By the way, if anyone would like some really good lumber or firewood (black walnut is excellent wood for either purpose) and actually knows what they’re doing, come get ‘em.

If you’re not familiar with black walnuts, once hulled and cracked (more on that in a minute) they are similar in appearance to regular walnuts.  Their taste is much stronger, though, sort of the walnut family equivalent of espresso coffee.  Some like them, some don’t.  I like them in small amounts.

To get to the nutmeat is a two-step process.  First, you have to break through the soft thick green hull outside.  That’s the easy part, and the pulp stains everything a yellowish-green that dries to brown.  It makes a great dye that’s been used for centuries, but it’s not all that nice looking on the hands over the following 1-3 days.  Once the outer hull is removed, there is a hard shell surrounding the nutmeat.  You know that neat little triangular shaped nut cracker that comes in holiday gift sets and works really well on regular walnuts?  Well, forget it.  Even before the nuts dry and cure for about 4 weeks (yes, really), cracking the inner hull requires industrial strength methods, although perhaps not all that sophisticated.  There are tools available which nicely split the hull and leave the nut halves intact, but I’m into the old adage of, “When all else fails, hit it with a hammer.”  You may get smaller pieces, but they’re still edible, and you get to take your frustrations out on a poor little well-armored nut.

Needless to say, with two dozen (and counting) trees on the property, the squirrels are busy.  But they don’t generally harvest them off the trees.  They wait for them to drop, then chew the soft hull off and scurry off with their bounty.  Now, consider this – each green-hulled black walnut is about the size of a tennis ball and it’s solid.  There’s a whole physics and math thing going on here involving mass and velocity which my brain has never done, but trust me – when these things fall from even 10 feet above, they land loud and hard.  You know when you’ve been hit by one (yes, I have), and if your car is parked under them, there will be little craters left in metal, although car windshields tend to survive the impact with only a stain of green smoosh left behind.

I gather, hull and store a few dozen nuts for use around the holidays and I do highly recommend trying them if you get the opportunity.  However, I'd try to avoid remaining under the trees for long amounts of time during September.  This year isn’t a bumper crop due to the lack of rain, but there’s still enough lurking in the branches above to be wary of.  The trees are also losing their leaves at the same time (last to get them in the spring, first to lose them in the fall), and many times there are still nuts on the trees even after most of the leaves are gone, and you get to see where each little round weapon of minor destruction is waiting just for you.  Be careful.

Only 12 days until Fall.