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alan skeoch

nov. 3, 2023

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Yes, black walnuts are edible but they need to be prepared.  Here are long

and short instructions.

SHORT INSTRUCTIONS

Gather a basket of black walnuts.  Peal off the soft outer

shell which turns black and gooey  then put the walnuts 

some place dry where the squirrels can’t get them.

Then place each walnut in a workshop vice to smash

open the shell.  Use a small sharp tool to weasel out the nut

in pieces.

LONG INSTRCUTIONS

1) Gather pile of black walnuts

2)  Let the worms (invisible) help get much of the black outer casing removed 

3) Use gloves so you do not stain your hands.

4) Wash the shells in pail of water, stir with paddle…rinse.

5) Wash again…rinse again

6) Wash again until water is clear

7) Allow nuts to dry in warm place

8) Be sure squirrels cannot get access.

9) Place each nut vertically workshop  vice….crush

10) Separate shell fragments from nut meat carefully

11) Taste nut meat

12) Plan gourmet use for nut meats

13) Or…put some nut meat on your bird feeder as a treat

“Black Walnuts are delicious to eat.  We used to gather hundreds of the walnuts and put them on top of the hot air ducts in the basement to dry for a few weeks.  When they were dry we would take them down and crack them open.  The work bench vice was great for cracking them.  The trees themselves do tend to prevent other trees from growing under them.  Their roots seem to secret some kind of toxin that discourages them but smaller shrubs and grasses would grow under them.  The squirrels really liked them and would hoard them for winter.”    Quote from Rooter  

The black walnuts turn back and gooey .  Get rid of this guck by washing.  Then give nut time to dry.  Be on lookout

for red squirrels.

alan skeoch

Oct  30m 2023

OUR KITTEN CHOSE ITS HOME HIGH ATOP THE WASHER DRIER IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM

We live in Mississauga on what was once land owned by the Mississuagas.

As a result the house lots on our street are unusual.   Huge.  Ours is 55 feet x 400 feet.  Lots of big trees

and scrub underbrush…we even have a small stream casually working its way to Lake Ontario and

a great swath of unmanicured forest.   Inshort the back of our lots look like they have always been 

wild.

A den of coyotes have taken up residence for years.  BolD at times.  But not with me for

I carry a gun which I bought for a couple of bucks at the Dollar Store complete with several

strips of ammunition.  I wear it on my hip for a fast draw if the coyotes decide to attack Woody

 a couple of pops scares them off.  That only happened once..    

 Woody found out the hard way that coyotes regarded him as a meal when one took a swipe at

his ass.

There are no cats near our house any more.  Cat owners keep their cats in their houses.

Those that get free have  a short life.  We may even have lost Taranga that way.  She was found

dead on the banks of the stream by our son Andrew.  May have been a natural death for

she was elderly.  Or a coyote that was not hungry  

Enough said.    Our new cat’s  father was a feral cat moving with stealth

in Erin Township, we figured his daughter who we call Chelsea Bun (because she looks

like a Chelsea Bun)… might be wise enough to keep clear of the coyotes.    

SO SHE HAS A LEASH…SHE IS NOT FREE

“Alan, she must be leashed at all times.”

“Fine.”  (Marjorie does not trust me.)

“Remember that.”

Yesterday, Marjorie did not follow her own advice and let Chelsea Bun go free…dragging her leash behind her.

Se was free for some time while Marjorie raked leaves.

“Meeeow¡”

“I hear you Chelsea Bun.”

“Meow…Meow!” 

“Where are you?”

“Meow!”

The cry was distant.

“Meow!”

“Where are you?”

“Meowww!”

We have lots of trees…half our

400 foot lot is a wilderness where coyotes can run free.

Dangerous placer for a kitten.

“Meow!”  

Marjorie spent a lot of time looking for Chelsea Bun until she looked

up and spotted the red tip of the leash jiggling high up one of

our cedar trees.   Perhaps 30 feet up, maybe higher…the  leash hanging straight down.

If she  moved she could easilly hang herself.   

“Hold on!”

Marjorie tried many things.

1)She tried to climb the tree…failed

2) She got a buck saw to cut lower benches…..failed

3) She got a ladder…too short…fsiled.

4) She thought of calling neighbour…too dangerous for Hubert…failed

5) She thought of calling fire department…too foolish…failed

6) She called son Andrew…he came with a long ladder and 

was juist able to  get his hand around the dangling leash and then

the back of Chelsea Bun.

7) Chelsea Bun began to purr…”Purr!”

Such a minor event unless you are  kitten on a leash high up a cedar tree.

I wonder whether the coyotes were watching.

CHELSEA BUN IS NOW SAFELY BACK IN BED WITH WOODY

alan skeoch

Nov 1, 2023

Our original Black Walnut tree which was planted by me (as the legend goes) around 1944 or 1946.

The tree is now, like me, in its 80’s.  Perhaps 80 to 100 feet high.  Dominating all living things

nearby with a poison  chemiical called JUGLONE

I must ask my chemist friend Rooter…Robert Root…about that poison.  SEEMS TO KILL

LIVING THINGS

IS THIS CAUTION TRUE, ROOTER? (ASKING BOB ROOT)  ???

The effects of juglone

Some people and animals are susceptible to juglone damage. Consuming too many leaves or using walnut sawdust for bedding can cause a number of problems with animals.  Some people are especially sensitive to juglone, and even sawdust from cutting walnut lumber can coat skin and produce a red welt where it lands. Juglone is a strong respiratory toxin and small amounts will damage other living creatures.

In the soil, juglone will damage many living things, including plant roots. Once it’s released into the soil, small amounts can damage and kill the roots of neighboring plants. Beneath the tree, this walnut chemical severely damages annual plants, garden vegetables, fruit trees and some broadleaf perennials. Most grasses seem immune. If it leaks back onto a walnut root, however, it is quickly made nontoxic again and stored. Wherever walnut roots travel, they change the soil they move through by adding juglone.

GRANDMA LOUISIA FREEMAN SAID I PLANTED THE WALMUT TREE

(She may have told cousin Ted Freeman the same thing we were about the same age)

 “Alan, you planted the walnut tree beside the back house.”

I do not remember doing so but I was just a little boy at the time.   If I did then I

sure knew the right spot.  The outhouse. Lots of fertilizer, the  real stuff must have seeped into the ground on

that spot.  The Black walnut loves good land.

 And lots of walnuts began to drop each fall as the tree thrived and now

towers over the farm house.  2023.. A bumper crop.  A thousand walnuts from one tree.  So many walnuts

that we need a Bobcat to move them.   

“Alan, do not go under the walnut tree…you will get boinked.”

“A thousand hard balls falling.”

“Too many.  I hate that tree.” (Marjorie’s opinion)

“Grandma loved it and so do I…part of our heritage. When I was a teen ager

I would gather a basket of walnuts and hurl the into roadside ditches from

our old 1953 Meteor.  Some big trees on the fifth line were planted that way…like

Johnny Appleseed.”

“They are poison, Alan.  Their roots kill any other tree that thinks it can

move into walnut territory.   That walnut tree killed the hickory tree.  Scares me.”

“Are black walnuts edible?””

“They are.   But they can also hurt people who are allergic to them.  I think Bill

Doyle’s brother was killed by a walnut allergy”

“Wow!  And you eat them?”

“Never knew better as a kid.. thankfully it was Difficult to get at the walnut core. “ (We are talking about Black Walnuts.  Not the

domesticated English walnuts tucked in an ice cream cone or brownies.)

“Black Walnuts?”

“They like good soil.   In distant times..pioneer days….settlers searched for

walnut groves because they knew the land of the Black Walnut would be superb.”

“”Can I taste a Black Walnut?”

“You can but it may nto be worth the effort.”

“Why?”

“You will need a sledge hammer to break the shell…needs a good

smash and all you will get are little bits of nut.  If ,by error, you

bite on a piece of walnut shell you will need a dentist .  Black

Walnuts break teeth.”

“Alan, get serious, have you ever eaten a black walnut?”

“I have tasted the nut long ago.”

“And you are still alive…or seem so.”

“Then Black Walnuts are edible.”

“Seems so.”

“This year we have a bumper crop…perhaps a thousand pounds of walnuts…so

many that we need a fork lift to move them.”

“Hold on.  Can I eat a Black Walnut…just one?”

“You can but that is another story…..another episode.”

“Why make it so difficult?”

“Because Black Walnut trees want to be sure to create more black walnut trees

and to discourage enemies like you or, particularly, those red squirrels who just love

the nuts and have teeth that can chew through the hard nut casing.”

“What’s wrong with my teeth?”

“Your teeth wold be shattered by the nut casing.”

“What about the poison?”

HOW TO PREPARE BLACK WALNUTS FOR A GOURMET FEAST… NEXT EPISODE

alanskeoch

Oct. 21, 2023

The Vogel barn was absolutely empty on Oct 21, 2023. However reminders of that once stood there were obvious.  Leaks from tractor oil pans

dotted the harvest floor.  Not long ago 30 tractors sat in here    Where were they?  Not far away.

The tractor were in the field…lined up for auction. Quie asight.

This steel wheeled Farmall circa 1930’s is the only tractor I waned.   beautiful machine.   But behind my

reach.   Probably sold cheaply.  Hope not for scrap.

We id not stay.   Long way home and I promised Marjorie a nice lunch.

Remember the GPS..the GOOD POTATO SOUP?  Coming next episode.

alan

Here is what that rusty Farmall looks like when restored (not in sale)

Note: Surprisingly auctioneer Jim McCartney had  sale near Virgil (Niagara on the lake) the same day…..also sold 30 tractors.  Marjorie and I usually go to 

McCartney sales except for Our. 21….we missed his vocal guaanee: “I guarantee that everything sold today was once brand new?”  Take a lookout that Farmall rusty wreck and

compare it to the restored Farmall.