We were running around the block recently and I noticed there were these big green balls under a tree at one part of the run. Later, when my sister-in-law walked around the block she asked about them because several fell and almost hit her. So on the way back from my run over the weekend I brought one home to do more investigation.
It was squishy and it had this strange black liquid in it and a very hard center. We had speculated they were walnuts, but we weren't sure. After I got to the core of the nut I tried a nut cracker on it but no go, I couldn't crack it. I tried a hammer and sure enough, it was a walnut. It turns out it was a black walnut.
I did some research online and the trees only bear fruit every other year. It sounded like a fun project to collect them, de-husk them, dry them and then crack them in a few weeks. I thought I'd take my son out to go and collect some.
The only problem I saw initially was that my fingers were disgustingly dirty looking from messing with the one sample. The stain is an unattractive dark yellow that looks like you have very dirty fingernails and you haven't been washing your hands.
I washed and washed but it wouldn't come off. I read online because surely something would take the stain off. Nope, you're out of luck. Bleach doesn't help nor is there any other suggested removal technique short of amputation. So I have to wait it out.
But I did want to collect some. My son and I walked up the road with a large paper bag and he had a great time putting the black walnuts into the bag. When we got home I had my husband distract him so I could husk them.
This time I wore nitrile gloves. I wore two gloves. And this dang dye/herbicide that's such an intensely dark yellow/brown/black got through in two spots where I compromised the gloves. So now I have stains on both my hands that look like I'm a chronic smoker. It is super attractive.
The outer husks from these big balls are mushy, green and black and look like they're rotting, even when they've just dropped. I asked my husband if he could dump the full bowl of husks in the back yard for me while I cleaned off more. He came back and said, "you know, there are maggots everywhere in that bowl?" He was right, they were everywhere. Little small white maggots, happily eating the outer covering of the nuts. Tasty. The walnut shell is so hard and dense that I'm not worried they're in the main nut, but it wasn't something I was expecting. After he said that I looked at each nut and I think most of them were filled with little maggots. Fun.
The nuts are on the deck drying for a few weeks now. I hear they're challenging to shell even when dried, so there may be another update of black walnut fun in the coming weeks.
The Big Boy Update: Practicing words and the alphabet. On the ride to school we practice words. We do the alphabet and say the names of fruits and animals and vegetables. His enunciation is getting better every day and his willingness to try difficult sounds is increasing daily too. After we had moved on from vegetables this morning, he said, "corn" to remind me I'd left off his favorite vegetable.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Walk! She's taken some steps in the past week or two, but she hasn't taken deliberate, out into the void steps that are a definite indication she wants to walk. Today she decided it was time. We caught her on video, so there's proof she's officially a biped now.
Fitness Update: Not so much fitness as healthy eating. Since my post on craving sugar, I've been looking at foods that are sweet and trying to gauge how much I want them and trying to rethink my brain into something better, say carrots. Since I'm not running for a few days after getting my eye surgery done, I'm working on the health of my food intake or my mental attitudes toward food.
Someone Once Said: Beauty is not diminished by being shared.
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