Breakfast in the making
As I was climbing the first hill on my walk this morning a single nut dropped with a thud on the road in front of me–missing my head by a whisker.
I picked it up and turn it round in my hand.
It was a perfectly formed walnut–freed from its green casing.
A small opening had been made in the shell through which I could see the white flesh of the unripe kernel.
On it was written this message:
“Keep off my patch!”–only kidding!
In effect that was the message intended by the red squirrel who thought he’d spotted another walnutter.
He had and I am, but not today–it is too early by about three weeks–they are still green.
No matter–walnut harvest time approaches and the trees look promising.
From late September to early November each year I collect them in basketfuls
and hang them out a while to dry in the breeze, before storing them away, like the squirrel, for chillier days to come.
According to local rules: “When they fall on public paths or on the roadside verges, anyone can harvest them.”
No harm in repeating their wonderful healthly qualities, confirmed in these two studies:
The original Walnut Study from Loma Linda University was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. They were the first to find that walnuts in a controlled diet reduced LDL (bad) cholesterol and heart disease risk significantly more than the diet then recommended by the American Heart Association. In other words – they proved, scientifically, that food really can be your medicine.
In April 2000, another landmark walnut report was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers had 49 men and women with high cholesterol incorporate walnuts into a healthy Mediterranean diet, substituting a handful of walnuts a day for some of the mono-unsaturated fat in the diet. Participants lowered their “bad” LDL cholesterol by almost 6 per cent and heart disease risk by 11 per cent beyond what would be expected from the Mediterranean diet alone.
and in this:- walnuts
Robin Ellis 
And the hulls make a stunning VERY dark brown dye bath for wool, no mordant needed. Made the mistake of dyeing without rubber gloves once, my hands were a very interesting colour for weeks! Shelagh in Vermont.
Good to hear that my old friends the Walnuts are back. Merry foraging and gleaning Robin!
thanks Steven-I can’t wait…
YUM! Walnuts are my favorite nut! 🙂
Better wear a hat next time, to soften the blow of a new squirrel attack…. 😉
Another squirrel story here in my country, seen on tv this week:
There is a 100 year old man, who is best friends with a squirrel. While cracking walnuts, the old man saw a squirrel by his window. The squirrel came in, took some walnuts and then came back every day. The old man made sure that there were always walnuts waiting for his little friend.
But then he had to move to another room in the nursing home and moved to another floor. The squirrel couldn’t reach his window anymore. And now, some of the nursing staff bring the walnuts the old man gives them to a table outside in the garden. They’ve made a dvd for him so he can see his friend again.
The squirrel still gets his nuts, but not as many as he was used to. The staff confessed to the interviewer that they keep some nuts for themselves, sometimes…. Well, not everyone has so much love for animals as he has….
So this story is a little bittersweet.
But also evidence that these nuts are healthy for you, body and soul.
We are lucky enough to have 2 huge old walnut trees and they are one of my favourite harvests of the year. We will soon have brown stained fingers that will just about be clean again by Christmas, but at least we will have a huge stack of nuts for the winter, plus plenty to give away as pressies. Love the squirrel story Dieneke – thankfully although we have the red squirrel in our area they are not in our orchard 🙂
Walnuts and red squirrels what a sight they must be – you are very lucky
I have a passion for walnuts, and they are one of the best nuts you can eat,but I’m afraid we only get the grey squirrels scampering across the back garden fence. Regards Elaine
Waiting in a tree to drop down on your head….Good thing Capt. McNeill never thought of that!
I love walnuts, and they really are rather versatile. One of my family’s favorite no meat meals is linguine alle noci (linguine with walnut sauce).
Thanks for the info on the walnuts.
Sue Allen
I am fascinated by your reference to hanging the walnuts out to dry. How do you do this?
Usually I place my walnuts on trays in the sun to dry and bring them in once the sun goes down and out again for another day or two until I am sure they are dry. One year a whole trayful disappeared – I can only suppose the local squirrels were stocking up for Winter.
I hang the holey string bags I use to collect them, from a hook in the open air during the day. Each time I pass by I agitate the bag to move them around.
There are squirrels and “squirrels”, Tina!!
Thanks Robin. Yet another brilliant idea.