The nuts have a fabulous taste. The year I gathered quantities of nuts in anticipation of selling some, I kept the Mockernut ones for me. Alas, I wound up doing all the work of hulling, etc., only to put the rest out for the squirrels in winter. They were glad, because they couldn't quite remember where they had stashed theirs.
A couple of weeks ago, I found a few under my Fave Tree. I looked up and could have sworn there were no more. However, Iz took a walk in the woods when she came for a visit. She found quantities, which shows how reliable my opinions are.
These are some from a shellbark tree down on the river bottom that I named Bountiful. I got 47 gallons from it in 2010, the last prolific harvest.
We went up yesterday with buckets to the special tree. We grubbed around in the leaves and kept getting quantities of nuts. The other night the drought was broken once more with nearly seven inches of rain. That must have knocked them down. Quickly filling the two buckets we brought, we carried them down that steep hill, then up a steep hill to where we had left Rosie and the cart.
It seemed like a good opportunity to change my blog picture. I'm repeating it here for those who don't get the entire picture. Many thanks to my sister Jeni, who I am indebted to for getting the blog up and running in the first place. The technical parts of blogging are a big mystery to me.
Since I am nothing if not greedy, I went back today to get the rest of the fave nuts. The hulled nuts that float aren't good, but I got plenty of the sinkers. They have to be dried and allowed to age a bit. I can hardly wait.
