Beech Tree News Network

They don’t have black walnut trees in Louisiana.  I didn’t realize this fact until this weekend when my daughter, Nikki, and her husband, Thomas, came up from New Orleans for a visit.  I assumed everybody had the little rascals.  I have three trees in my back yard, and they are the bane of my existence. They usually produce bushels-full of nuts, which fall onto the grass and driveway.  I can’t go to the clothesline in the fall without slipping and sliding my way up and down the hill.  But, and this is a significant “but,” there is nothing better in brownies or chocolate fudge than black walnuts.

I had a bucket of dried nuts put back for just that occasion, but Christmas came and went, and I never got around to cracking them.  We were all sitting around relaxing on Saturday afternoon, so I asked Garey to get me his heavy-duty nut cracker, because I intended to pick out some walnuts.  Thomas was all in for this.  He is one of those people who likes new experiences, and always wants to be part of the process.  He said he and his brothers shelled sacks full of pecans by hand when he was growing up.  I didn’t have the heart to tell him what he was in for.  I’m sure he started to figure that out when I came through with three hammers, some small anvil-like pieces of iron, and an industrial strength nutcracker.

Garey put the walnut on the nutcracker then pushed down on the long handle until the nut began to crack and separate.  We took the nut from there then placed it on the iron and finished splitting it with a hammer.  Only then could we free the kernels from inside.  Thomas was amazed at the force it took to crack a black walnut.  He was very thankful his family raised pecans.

Growing up with a timber man for a dad, I’ve been around black walnut trees all my life.  I know the texture and smell of the lumber and I can recognize the stain on anybody’s hands.  It was a stain that you could only wear off when I was a kid.  We sure didn’t have anything that would take it off.  I wore my old shoes to stomp the outer hulls off the walnuts that had fallen to the ground in the fall then later on, when the nuts had dried out, I’d pick up a bucket full and take them to the concrete porch where I’d crack them with a hammer and pick them out with a nail, so Mom could make candy or cake.

While we were picking out walnuts with Thomas, Garey cautioned him to be careful what fell into his bowl, because an errant walnut hull could break a tooth.  Thomas said that reminded him of shucking oysters with his grandfather for the market.  He and his brothers had to be vigilant to find the small rocks embedded in the soft flesh of the oyster, because the rocks made the oysters worth less money to the buyers—they didn’t want disgruntled customers with cracked teeth.

As I was listening to Thomas talk about the work he had done as a kid, I realized there are so many things kids do while growing up that teach the same lessons, no matter where they live.  I met a guy recently who grew up in the area around Denver.  When he was a boy, he’d go out into the mountains and dig for turquoise that he would sell to nearby Indian jewelry makers.  He worked hard to find the good pieces and would be rewarded by the buyers for his diligence.  A job well done teaches the same lesson to children in any culture.

When Natalie brought our granddaughter, Sabria, by later that day, we were just finishing up with the walnuts.  She was sad that she had missed out on the process.  Garey, recognizing the fact that Sabria was basically disappointed that she hadn’t gotten to smash anything, set her up on the front porch with a bucket of walnut hulls and a hammer.  She sat out there for nearly two hours smashing hulls to smithereens.  There were hulls ricocheting off everything.  (I’m sure my left foot will find a few when I decide to walk barefoot in the yard this summer.)  You could tell by the look on Sabria’s face that she was quite proud of her work.  It was the same look that was on Thomas’ face when we gave him the walnuts he’d help hull to take back with him to Louisiana.