Awe nuts (originally written for modern homesteaders)

Around this time of the year every proper lady is in her kitchen cooking and baking away making those delicious concoctions of candies and baked goods.  If you are like me you have noticed the incline of prices of the key components of good candy and baked goods year after year. What is it you ask that is so crucial to making your deserts the best of the best? Nuts, pecans, almonds, walnuts, and we wouldn’t be able to make that crunchy delight peanut brittle without peanuts would we?
Here on our homestead we have multiple nut trees. We have six pecan trees and a black walnut tree. Now if you have never had a black walnut they are something to be appreciated to say the least.  Harvest time for black walnuts is the same time as pecans around the last of October first of November here in south Louisiana. When the nuts fall from the trees they are ready to harvest.   They look like a green golf ball and smell like pepper. If you cut one open and rub it on your hands you will smell like pepper and have greenish black hands for a long time too. I learned this the hard way.
The hull from the black walnut is known as a great alternative to commercial wormers, antifungals, and dyes.  Although you can find black walnut extract at some pharmaceutical type stores or online it is a simple task to make your own to use for yourself and livestock excluding horses and dogs.  If you have access to a black walnut tree you can simply remove the fresh green husk while wearing gloves with a sharp knife cutting around the inner nut to remove as much husk as possible. Then the husk can be placed in a clear glass container with a lid, and then covered with cheap liquor. You will notice immediately the color change.  The more you shake your concoction and let it set, the more tannin is released and the darker your liquid will become.

Black walnut tincture

There are some down sides to the black walnut though. It is said that tomatoes will not grow within the root range of a black walnut tree but I have proved that wrong more than once since ours is about twenty feet from our garden, well within range for the roots.  Apple trees are said not to grow near this tree either but we do have two pear trees growing fairly close to our walnut tree. The reason is a substance contained within the plant called juglone that inhibits oxygen absorption in plants. It is also considered toxic to horses and can cause laminitis whether absorbed internally or in their bedding. Although using black walnut wood in horse bedding would be a waste considering its desirable coloring and strength used in a lot of wood working crafts.

Now walnuts and many other nuts can be indigenous to your region and you not even realize it yet. Here in south Louisiana we have black walnuts, bitter pecans, chestnuts, and hickory nuts. You can find a great illustration of the leaves and nut identification here.
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/BA8FFA18-B7CD-4D98-88FF-AF234D5F9ACD/18437/pub1669LeafKey.pdf

Note that not all the trees and fruit on the site are edible, although you would be surprised to find that some are, sassafras is one example of one of the trees on the list that are edible. I suggest you research your region and find out what is indigenous to your local and get out and go foraging. We went this year a lot when preparing our food plots for the deer.  We found chestnuts, pecans, hickory nuts, sassafras, and persimmons to name a few. You can contact your local agricultural extension office for more information on what grows in your area.

Un-husked black walnuts