Looking for walnuts

We just cook with the all-natural ingredients, herbs, and spices we cultivate and gather here, there, and you-don't-need to-know-where. And those boys have already gone loco from the stuff they eat & drink-- especially those freakin' hot peppers!

I just wait until the outside gets soft, then I peel them.  Out of total boredom, I counted them as I picked them up prior to mowing.....over 15,000 of the little suckers and counting......

I don't get it, PD.  Why bother to get them out in one piece when you're gonna chop 'em up later anyway? Why do you need them whole? Or is it just easier to weasel them out of the shells after you've soaked them? And....if that's true, then why not soak 'em after you peel the rind off?  No need to let them dry out.

I don't always chop them up. They are also more decorative in halves. They also keep better with less surface area exposed. 
It makes the nut more flexible  so they don't get ground up into tiny pieces while getting them out. Another advantage to larger halved instead of pieces is spotting hull pieces that fall into the shelled nuts. Those can REALLY ruin your day. If the majority are halves the little bits of hull are SO much easier to spot. As for soaking them immediately after husking them instead of letting them dry and then soaking them.....I don't know. Everything I have ever read said to do it that way. I will have to look and see if I can figure out why.

On a side note, it was great getting to meet cybergeezer and collecting the walnuts. I had a good time talking to him and his wife. 

Yep, ol' Patriot Dan picked a good day to come gather his nuts. Hee, hee hee! The Missus informed me this morning that I was gonna blow leaves off the weeds growing around our shack today, a job which I hate only slightly less than raking them. I'd barely started when ol' Patriot drove up in his fancy car. He's got hubcaps, ALL the windows, and a steering wheel, which is nicer than the Vise-Grip pliers I use to steer my old truck. After a little conversation, I started PD on a path from tree to tree where nuts were most plentiful. Unlike most sensible men, Mr. Dan suggested maybe I wanted to get back to my leaves, and he could handle the nut gathering. Hee hee! Yeah, sure I would. Right about then, I pointed out the big Newhouse bear trap PD was about to step in. Let me tell you, ol' Patriot is well named, 'cause he turned about every shade of red, white, and blue! When he asked me if there were any more around and I replied in the affirmative, (they're real handy for discouraging undesirables), he allowed that it would be nice for me to accompany him so we could "get acquainted". Which I did, mainly to keep him from poking around in certain areas I prefer to keep quietly off limits. Anyhoo... when ol' Dan had gathered enough nuts (hee hee hee!) to fill the trunk of his fancy car, he rolled on out down the dirt lane. I hope he comes back next year.

You only chuckled when one of those Bear traps grabbed the tattered pant leg on my Bib-Overalls.. After, you said if I stayed close to that little dirt wood get'n trail, I would be somewhat saft while hauling the Good Karna Wood to the Ole' S-10 plow truck.. Knowing of Momma Nanas Ole' Corn Mash Still hidden out there at CyberGeezer Acres.. That great little landfill area seems to put off plenty of fumes, or just enough to cover the production of Rusty's favorite 'Wicked Water' cleaning  treatment for the lower posterior area.... I could see why you don't want to many people poking around in that area.. If Momma Nana found out her 'Health Ailment Operation' may have a chance to be shut down because of any Undesirables she would Tan Our Hides..

Glad you met PatriotDan and enjoyed the visit.. Not to mention getting rid of some of the 'Toxic Walnuts'.. You did tell him about your toxic nuts didn't you..?  

Ol' Patriot Dan seems like a real nice fella, so I only took him to the walnut trees in the relatively unpolluted areas of Geezer Acres, mostly out along Redneck Rd. There didn't seem to be any need to take him back around the "skunk works", and he never attempted to sneak back there when my back was turned, unlike Rusty and yourself. Neither did he complain about his throat being "a little parched" in hopes of being offered a couple swallers of Nana's nerve medicine and consumption preventative. I was glad that I was able to take time out of my busy schedule to accompany ol' PD 'cause I'm pretty sure he wasn't armed, and the mad coons have been especially testy lately. I was worried one of 'em might chomp a hunk out of Dan's leg while he was picking up his nuts. Hee, hee, hee! The Missus says if I'd quit taking pot shots at 'em they might leave me alone. They LOVE her, but then she spends about half our grocery money on food for them; they hate everybody else. Sneaky little barstids. Kinda like two others WITHOUT the black masks and tails that I could mention.

'cause

Okay, so I have figured out why you dry the nuts for a couple weeks after they are husked. I cracked one open and the walnut reminded me MUCH more of coconut than a walnut.

The texture was SO like coconut while it had next to no taste at all, certainly not like a walnut. So when I get them all hulled today they get a 2 week rest..... 

Come and get some more, before the tree rats beat you to them!