We had thought to go on a hike this morning to enjoy the gorgeous fall weather, but then Sarah remembered she had volleyball games with the Young Women in the ward so I headed out into the yard to see what needed doing. Nuts needed doing. When I landscaped our yard 15 years ago, I decided to plant some food storage. In addition to a variety of fruit trees and bushes, I planted two filbert trees and a walnut tree. My thinking was that in times of need they would be a good source of protein and perhaps something us gatherers could trade with those hunters. Sarah, who gathered the filberts, thinks these nuts are a good match with the color of her hair.
As the walnuts have fallen over the past few weeks we have piled them under the tree. Today I pulled off the dried brown (hard to do) or green husks (much easier). Joel and Will helped by kicking the soccer ball into the tree which brought done even more nuts.
We added a few acorns and horse chestnuts to the mix of nuts.
We will dry the husked nuts on the front porch and then in a month or two I plan to shell them and bag them for future use. I have done the husking and drying before, but have never gotten around to shelling them. This time I will be sure to do it. I will then try to introduce walnuts into the non-walnut liking diet of the other members of this household. Sarah is excited to try making candied walnuts for Christmas (to give to others) so there is hope.
A few walnuts still in their husk that missed the falling kicks of the soccer ball.
Our two year old Autumn blaze maple has been a colorful replacement to the globe willow.
Garden harvested Halloween/Fall/Thanksgiving decor.
Nature's bouquet
Sarah's bouquet.
Yesterday the kids were out of school so Marie took them to a pumpkin patch. Will sure knows how to strike a pose.
This afternoon we joined with some of the BYU Jerusalem Center students from Fall 2009 to watch a wonderful National Geographic Imax film about Jerusalem. The photography was amazing. Also nice was using three teenage girls (Christian, Muslim and Jew) as the lens by which the attachment of all three peoples to the city was explained. Made me homesick.
To view the trailer Click here
From my cousin Judy Nelson: I am so impressed by all of this. Particularly about the food storage goal, but also about the "nuts" part of it. I remember well back when I was maybe 12 or 13 when one Sunday in Church they announced the whole concept of being prepared, and to kick it off they said they said our Ward would go first and had a list of 1/2 the Church members that would THAT day begin would be the first to be the pilot group to understand how important it was to be prepared for your family. And the Nelsons were on that list. That moment was a turning point and a valuable lesson: we were allowed to buy basics immediately, like milk, eggs, flour -- but for the next two weeks my Mother was so creative because we weren't even allowed to get even the usual school lunches. (And my classmates noticed and still remember to this day, which I think affected them and their respect for the Mormon faith.) Much later, around 1967, my Mother was still thinking about it and had researched and written to companies and had them mail a wheat mill -- a wheat mill -- and had tins/barrels of wheat and got a grinder and figured out how to make bread using all of that. One winter, maybe winter of 1969, we were visiting Aunt Lucy and New York had one of its worst blizzards in history, and I remember Mom, who was so disappointed, saying: Darn, I wish we were there in Pelham and snowed in and without electricity because I am prepared, and it would be so much fun to use all the things I purchased. She was one of a kind, and all of that has always stuck with me. But -- harvesting the nuts is new to me, so keep us updated!
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