I have fond memories of seeing my Grandma sitting out under that great big walnut tree in her front yard. The sun would be shining and she would be cracking those walnuts and picking out the walnut kernels. She had yard chickens and sometimes a hoggish ole hen would run up and snatch a bit of the goodie out of Grandma’s hand. That would aggravate her a lot but I never heard her say a bad word. She would pick the goodies out and when she collected enough she would mail them off for money. Life in those mountains meant very little money so they would have to barter things like eggs for coffee, and whatever they had available. I loved my dear Appalachian grandparents dearly. They were kind and good to me. I never ever heard them complain about things they didn’t have. They would say, “I’ve got a plenty.” And in their minds they did. To be content is a rare quality in this day and time. We need more thankfulness and contentment now.
—Barbara Parker – 2021
Hope you enjoyed Barbara’s memories as much as I do! Pap taught me many things but being grateful for the blessings I have is right at the top of the long list.
Last night’s video: Matt Fixes Old Ax.
Tipper
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I remember from am early age, my Grandmother and us kids would go pick up walnuts and we would lay them out to darken. After that process was well underway, they were then placed into the driveway, to be run over by the vehicles that came in and out as that process was underway, we would pick up the walnuts that outer covering was eaten away by the friction of being run over. Later in the year was cracking and picking time, we received the fruits of our labor at Christmas when my Mother would make Black Walnut Cake with Coffee Icing.
would u plz send me the black walnut cake with coffee icing would be a
memoir of my Gramma thank u so much
When I was a kid I used a claw hammer and one of my mother’s smoothing irons to crack black walnuts. It didn’t hurt the iron at all and she was happy to get walnut goodies to bake up into a cake. She would wash the bottom of the iron, set it on the stove to get it good and hot and then sit it on a piece of waxed paper. That made it ready to use for its intended again.
I have the best memories of my dad sitting on the linoleum floor in our living room cracking walnuts. He had an iron circle about the size of a one pound coffee can around, and maybe three inches thick. He used a little hammer, and he would sit for hours and crack those nuts. Us kids would sit there with him as we all took turns eating some as he worked away. It would be nearly Christmas and mama needed them for her chocolate Fantasy fudge. She also put them in some white fudge she made with cherries and the black walnuts. She would make a chopped apple cake with black walnuts that was so delicious. I cherish those special times when we were altogether in our cozy little home. I spent three nights last weekend with my siblings and all of our spouses. We brought mama there for one of the days to eat dinner, play cards and sing. She loves to play Uno. I am so fortunate to be that close wirh my family. We all get along great and have a wonderful time …just the eight of us on our little getaway…cooking and eating, taking walks, playing games like rummy, pool and corn hole… and just hanging out.
Such a sweet story. Myself, not a fan of black walnut. Momma would have us pick them up, can’t remember where we got them. I had a problem getting those stains on my hands. Yucky! Y’all God’s blessings and prayers to those in need. Have a safe and happy weekend. Hugs and prayers, always to Miss Louzine. Hoping she had a better day and has a pleasant and peaceful weekend. Love to all.
If you are hulling walnuts and find maggots working inside leave them alone. They will eat away the hull without bothering the nut at all. Wear gloves when you handle them so the black moushy stuff don’t stain your hands then pressure wash them and let them dry.
Those little white squirmy wormy looking things are a blessing
I have about a bushel of black walnuts that I hulled, pressure washed and dried pre 2018. My wife died in 2018. It was before that but I’m not sure how long. I brought them in the house and they have endured here to this very day. I have sampled them from time to time expecting them to go bad so I can throw them out with feeling guilty. But they are still good! At the very least 7 years have passed and they taste as fresh as from the first. How long do walnuts keep?
Always loved them. I guess once they dry they last a long time. just enjoy them.Rose a stranger on line!
Make that “without feeling guilty”! My brain says one thing, my fingers say another.
♥️
I have dozens of Black Walnut trees and this year thy hung heavy with the green hulled nuts. The squirrels are gathering them and cracking off the hulls on the big heart stone out by the creek. Elizabethton Herb & Meal and Johnson City Iorn & Metal used to buy the nuts if they were still in the green hulls. It paid good money. But the owner died in 2015 and his family. wife 2 sons and 2 brothers, all died befor him. I’ve kept the land fallow to let the Walnut trees grow over the past 31 yrs. It doesn’t take but 4-12 yrs for a tree to start setting nuts. Praying for everyone and Love y’all.
They are indeed plentiful this year. I drove by Berea College campus housing and saw the ground covered in green ‘balls’ covering the sidewalk and ground after a big wind storm last week. I told myself to get a 5 gallon bucket, park and gather those amazing walnuts for some mighty fine winter baking. That’s just what I did. I spent yesterday hulling them out after running my car over them a few times the day before. My gloves didn’t work so well at protecting my fingers from the green hull staining me, but no worries. They are pulled out, tossed in a milk crate and pressure washed good. The sun is shining and they are drying…just waiting to be cracked and shelled out for some goodies.
Drama, this is for you and any other member. I live in the Princeton area of southern Greenville County, SC. I will give any of you all of the black walnuts you want for free, the catch is you will have to come and pick them up. I am not able to pick them up and shipping them could get expensive. Right at this moment, I have a cold pack around my ankle because of it hurting so bad.
I have found Mayfield Black Walnut ice cream at my local Ingles grocery store.
Thank you for Barbara’s story. It reminds me to be thankful for what the Lord has giving me. As always, praying for Granny!
While enjoying a big slice of black walnut cake, did you ever bite down on a little piece of shell? Not fun, but when it happens just be cautious, enjoy what’s left, and there’s no need for an announcement. Any baker can miss a stray particle of shell. Same with pecan pie.
Gene, I have done that. I bit down on a cherry seed last Christmas that was in the cherry pie filling that was used in a salad or whatever it was called, I just call it good! I thought I had cracked my tooth but didn’t.
Barbara’s story about her grandma reminded me of my Mammy. She thought she had a plenty too, especially when the garden, fruit, and nut trees did well. My friends, who really do have a plenty, made their second trip up here to fill their five-gallon buckets full of black walnuts. He said they will be back this evening to hit the trees in the bottom. I have no idea what they are doing with two truckloads, but I am so happy to see someone benefit from them. They thanked me and hinted that some homemade fudge would be coming my way real soon.
I have 8 bushels of nuts hulled, washed, dried and ready to start cracking. I crack and pick them out in our old farmhouse in the winter. I purchased a walnut cracker and it came with a pair of wire cutters to snip the cracked nuts. The wire cutters are the real secret instead of having to dig the meat out with a nut picker. The shells are so hard that I have broken at least three cutters. I had another weird pliers that I use and finally found it was for bonsai pruning. It is real old and better quality steel than the China made tools. I estimate about 1 1/2 to 2 hours labor for a pint of black walnut meats. It is no wonder that only old people like black walnuts.
Luke 12:22-26
Us two grand boys lived with Grandma for about two years while Dad worked “up north”. He knew we did not want to live in the city. We helped her ‘put up’ garden stuff, pick buckleberries, peel and slice apples and so. There for awhile one winter we would sit around the furnace in the dirt floor basement of her new house Dad built for her cracking walnuts and hickory nuts. There is a post over in the ” Grannyisms” about her. Maybe it was from her that I got imprinted to always collect wild edibles and nature pictures. And along about now my wife makes me a walnut-apple-spice-carmel-maple-brown sugar cake (in variable composition, no certain recipe, just what comes to mind and what’s available). I’m keeping the volunteer walnut in the end of the garden that some critter planted for me even though I know I’ll lose garden space to it. Just can’t have everything, have to choose what matters most; in this case memories and a choice between values.
Thank you and Barbara for the reminder. Thankfulness and contentment, yes, morbof both. I don’t need more money, things, etc. What I need is to open my eyes to the good that surrounds me and be grateful. ❤️
love this
I think Barbara is right- contentment is pretty rare in today’s world. And I believe it’s more precious than gold. Everyone strives for happiness, but happiness can be fleeting when it depends on what we have or do, who we know or where we go. Contentment comes from inside us, from a peacefulness that doesn’t change with our circumstances. Thankfulness nourishes contentment and helps it grow deeper.
Tipper,
Like you black walnuts are my favorite. I love hickory nuts too. These both are hard to find and get anymore without buying them. I haven’t seen hickory nuts in a long time. We seven kids would climb the hills around us and carry them back in toesacks and pour them out for the sun to dry and dad’s old work truck to run over them to get the green hulls off. I was talking to my niece Nikki yesterday. She has huge old walnut trees and chestnut trees on her land. She said she spent an hour throwing them out of her way. What she found and kept was amazing. She found a walnut that had two inside and kept it. I have never found one like that. Has anyone else found one that you know of? God bless everyone.
I haven’t done it in years, but a memory of cracking walnuts was the stained hands that took days to clean up. But that unpleasant after effect from cracking walnuts was soon forgotten when eating the desserts they were used in.
I love black walnuts but do not have the patience to pick the meat out. It takes a lot of time to pick out a cup full. I have found the green hulls can be removed by running the walnut through an old time crank type corn sheller. You will need to loosen the tension quite a bit but it works.
I watched the video of Matt fitting the handle into an axe head. My Daddy was always on the lookout at jockey lots or yard sales for the Kelly brand of axe. The Kelly company started making this axe in 1874 and was eventually bought out by another company in 1934 before being bought by True Temper in 1950 and changing the name of the axe later on to True Temper. I have watched him fit handles into the axe heads and other tools many times, I have some blacksmith hammers that were owned by my Great Grandfather with handles made by Daddy from hickory wood. Instead of shaving the wood with a knife like Matt, he would fit the handles by using a wood rasp- a file made for wood. When he sharpened these axes, you could just about shave with them. To his way of thinking the metal in the newer axes was not as good. This is probably not true for the extremely expensive brands. He would raise “cain” with me if he saw me using the head of an axe for a sledgehammer, doing this will swell the head. Also if he saw me using a claw hammer for a ball peen hammer. Even now I will not do either of these things.
Watching Matt fit that axe handle made me wonder why he doesn’t have a good drawknife and spokeshave. He is a deft hand with that knife, for sure; but drawknife and spokeshave would let him fit the size of the shank to his hand – as he mentioned – much easier than with that sheath knife.
There was an elderly lady in our neighborhood who was the absolute best I ever saw at cracking and picking black walnuts; she could get the biggest, prettiest pieces out of those hard shells. I wish I knew her secret.
We had many black walnut trees on our farm in Maryland. What was not described is how grandma cracked those hard as rocks nuts. My grandmother used a hammer. My father drove over them with the truck to shed the outer part to reveal the nut. Then he cracked the nut with a hammer. One year I purchased a walnut cracker made of iron by the Amish. Worked like a charm. My father’s favorite cake was black walnut. My mother made it for him It looked delicious but I never acquired a taste for black walnuts. And so messy!
Barbara Parker’s grandparents and your Pap were certainly wise. Living a peaceful and thankful live is truly a blessing from the Lord.
So many uses for black walnuts. I found a plenty at our daughter’s house. I will be using the hulls for a tincture and a salve.
When our daddy had cancer the treatments made him do some unusual things and picking up black walnuts barehanded was one of them. Daddy was always particular about his appearance and his hands were black with stain. He was obsessed with getting all the walnuts he could. His hands were stained for weeks. The treatment was so hard in so many ways.
He had also picked up a 10 lb potato sack full of hickory nuts. He and I love hickory nuts. He had me see if they were just about ready. They had just a while longer to cure. After Daddy died and we had no idea what happened to the hickory nuts. We searched high and low for that bag and never did find them. I was truly sad.
An old time home remedy for ringworms was to rub black walnut “juice” on them. Doing this would leave a stain.
I wrote about this a few weeks ago, one of my best memories of black walnuts is of my maternal grandparents sitting by the heater in their bedroom cracking and picking out the walnut goodies. Granddaddy would be sitting on one side of the heater cracking the walnuts with a hammer and brick, Grandmother would be sitting on the other side picking out the goodies. In the cold winter months, they pretty much stayed in this one room of their old home. They never owned a TV, they would often times sit in their room at night and read their Bibles, at other times Grandaddy would be reading a Progressive Farmer Magazine while Grandmother did something else. My black walnut trees have had a bumper crop of walnuts this year that I cannot give away, at least the squirrels are fat and happy. One other memory, cutting the grass underneath their walnut tree and the old push mower throwing the old leftover walnuts out and hitting me around my ankles, boy did they hurt. Precious memories of the past, how I wish I could go back and relive those memories.