Question about walnuts

[Orrex]

I have a walnut tree in the rear corner of my property that's much favored by a few local squirrels. Every year around this time, my yard accumulates somewhere around 30 to 40 pounds of fallen walnuts, and I just don't know what to do with them.

I'm afraid that I lack the know-how or will to make anything useful with them myself, but I don't really want them to go to waste, either. They're in all kinds of conditions: some are green and fresh-looking; others are blackened with a sort of ruptured look.

I raked them into a heap this afternoon when it occurred to me that maybe I should try to put them at least some good use.

I'm reluctant to leave them on the grass because I don't want them to get squished down into the lawn over the winter. If I leave them in a pile, will the squirrels eat them?


Any suggestions?

(not sure if this is the right Group for this question, but it seemed that you posters here would know a good deal more about it than I do!)

TIA

[eleny]

1. Do you live in the country or in a town?

If it's town, you could put a sign outside "free walnuts". People like a deal like that.

[Orrex]

2. In a town, but...

In terms of quality, these aren't really ready for primetime. They've been on the ground at least several days, and in some cases a few weeks, so I'm hoping that my tree-dwelling neighbors will be interested...

[eleny]

3. Here's to hoping that the critters pitch in and help

I'm surprised that this year we have lots of grapes. The raccoons and and squirrels aren't as plentiful since we harvested 4 big pots of fruit. Tomorrow, I'm making jam. I'm not crazy about putting Concords through the ricer. But the kitchen fragrance is worth it. Especially since this is the first year in many that we beat out the wildlife.

Good luck with the walnuts!

[Arkansas Granny]

4. A lot of people around here gather black walnuts, but I have found

that they require a lot of labor for very little reward. Here's how we used to do black walnuts when I was a kid.

We would put the walnuts out on our gravel driveway in a single layer and drive over them for a few days to knock the outer hull off of them. Then we would pick the nuts up (using gloves, that stain can last for days on the skin) and wash them thoroughly in an old washtub and high pressure from the hose. Then you spread them out again for a few days to let them dry and then they are ready to crack and remove the nutmeat. It requires a hammer to crack the shell and the meat can be very hard to extract. Like I said, very labor intensive.

[mitchtv]

5. Walnuts are toxic to other plants

Alleopathic? Kills competition, No good as compost, nor are the husks