Bath time at the Nut house -- jcarolek

I found another nut dropper today -- one that I had previously overlooked. That old saying, “I can’t see the forest for the trees,” was actually the opposite from my experience over the past couple of weeks. In fact, I cannot seem to properly focus on a tree within the forest, because each seems to grab my eye, even as I am trying to examine another. Maybe the better expression for my nut hunting escapades would be, “the nuts are always bigger, under the next tree.”

At any rate, and for whatever reason, today I discovered a tree from under whose branches and from amongst whose leafy carpet, I successfully collected nearly 18 lbs of the fresh hickory nuts. My customers have been very happy with their shipments to-date and I can only hope the remainder of my customers are as satisfied.

I thought I’d share some of my “bathing beauty” photos. Yes, I bathe the nuts. Why? Well, these are natural growing nuts, and, as such, have been treated with no pesticides or fertilizers or anything. This is the good news and the bad news. On the good side, I can assure my customers that they are getting “organic” nuts. On the bad side, some of the nuts will have already been “eaten” by the hickory nut worms. One method of detecting those nuts that would result in customer dissatisfaction, due to discovery of any empty shell, is to drop it in water. If it floats, it has already served up its portion to another diner. If it sinks, it shows promise of candidacy in the next batch of fudge or brownies.

So it is that I have “bath time” at the nuthouse!

I also took a photo of a couple of the nuts as I actually find them, in their hulls and ready to be harvested. As you can see, they are slightly smaller than a large chicken egg.

Hickory Nuts with Large Chicken Egg



Approximately 8 lbs of hickory nuts, fresh from their "bath."