A hard nut to crack

 

These boogers are hard nuts to crack, but they're so good they're worth the trouble. 

Now, black walnuts are not something you sit around and munch on out of hand like peanuts, at least I don't, but they make a batch of chocolate fudge taste divine and they're also mighty tasty in chocolate cake. 

Black walnut trees are plentiful out in the countryside, and the nuts drop off in September and October, so now's a good time to gather some up for the winter.  Just pretend you're a squirrel.

 

Once you gather a few bucketsful, you can spread the nuts behind wherever you park your car. Whenever you back over them, the tough green outer hulls will get smashed off. 

Once the hulls are off, it's a good idea to spread the nuts out on screens or newspapers to cure for a few weeks before attempting to crack them. 

I read somewhere that the easiest way to crack black walnuts is to use a vise to crack the shell then use wire cutters to clip the tough inner membrane that holds the nutmeats in place. 

In the past, we've always cracked them with a hammer and picked the nutmeats out, but walnuts are hard and stubborn and contrary and pieces of shell generally fly everywhere.

 

It's hard to imagine that squirrels can crack black walnuts with their teeth, but they obviously know a treat when they see one. 

Oh!  Don't forget to wear gloves when you gather, hull or crack these nuts. There are brown juices in that hull that will stain your hands for days. People will think you are a  mechanic. Trust me, I know. 

Wild little beauties

September is the time of year when weeds have pretty much taken over our garden, and their blooms rival the beauty of anything I planted deliberately.

I just love sweet autumn clematis, and this is covering the picket fence in the back yard.  I see it growing in the wild a lot too, especially around old abandoned homesteads.

 
Morning glories are EVERYWHERE right now, but I kind of like how they cover the shriveled bean vines.

Golden rod and iron weed are two of my favorites for making fall bouquets. 

 

All this beauty from a bunch of “weeds"...

 

...we'll let them grow for now. 

 

A special day

My dad owns a piece of property way up in a "holler" where we often gather for birthday dinners and holidays.

Today we celebrated my mom's, son-in-law's and twin nieces' birthdays, all born either today or tomorrow, with a big potluck dinner. 

Hannah and Eric brought our big boy Clay out for his first outdoor picnic. He handled it very well and seemed to enjoy all the new sights and sounds even though it was pretty hot.

What a special, special day it was to have Clay with us! 

I think his momma thought so too.  :) 

Contemplating some of life's greatest mysteries

The little ones have arrived!  I checked beneath the expectant mother this morning, and at least a half-dozen baby tomatoes have hatched. 

Both Mom and babies appear to be doing well. The father, alas, was nowhere to be seen. 

 

Aren’t they adorable? 

 

 OK, OK, I’ll admit I’m pulling your leg with these last two photos. 

However, the one I posted on facebook yesterday…

 

….was real. 

 These tomato plants were set in the ground in early May, and staked a few weeks later.  The plant must have been pretty good sized for a bird to risk building a nest sin it. 

I wonder if it had time to raise hatchlings before Big Bully tomato took over its nest?

Or did the bird grow wary of the growing green orb and decide to abandon her nest before even bothering to lay eggs? Poor bird.  She must have been so confused. 

Ahhh, the mysteries of life.  Some things we’ll just never know, will we?  ;)

Second cutting

Few things smell sweeter than freshly mown hay drying in the sun.

I love hay-cutting seasons, which kind of remind me of canning for cattle, except the preservation doesn’t go into jars but into gigantic rolls of dried grasses. 

There’s satisfaction in providing for the needs of critters as well as our families, and in knowing they’ll be well fed when the snow flies.

 

 

 

Sweet summer, departing

Summer isn’t officially over, but I guess it may as well be.  Chelsea stuffed her little Escape with clothes and dorm furnishings until it was bulging at the seams, and now she’s off to college for another semester. 

I can’t think of a thing I’d rather she be doing, but I’m sure going to miss having her around the house. Before she left, she swung by Hannah’s—where I was baby-sitting Clay while his momma ran some errands—just to say “see ya, later.”  I snapped this cute pic of Clay and Aunt C-sea.

It’s pleasant, almost cool, here on the porch this evening—great hay-drying weather.  I think August and September made some kind of deal and switched places. We may pay up next month, but the break from heat and humidity is nice for now.  

An evening stroll through the countryside

These nice fall-like evenings are great for evening strolls past mown meadows, corn fields and the only tobacco patch on Station Camp Creek that I know of.

I like this picture of Clay getting pushed in the stroller by his daddy with Pappy walking alongside.  Clay is one fortunate little fellow to have such a tender, patient and loving dad, and he’s doubly fortunate to have an ol’ grandpappy who’s the same. 

They are so cute they way the hover over him and dote on him. Two old women couldn’t do it any better. 

I can just imagine the fun these guys are going to have as Clay progresses from stroller to little red wagon to big wheel to tricycle to pony to bicycle to 4-wheeler to pick-up…

 Shhhhhhh...don't tell Mommy.