That is just plain nutty!

Occasionally, I come across something that I am truly eager to try. Case in point...hickory nuts! Now don't get me wrong, I have tasted them and most of the time, found the meat to be rather bitter. In the yard, we have several large hickory trees with most being the kind that produce the small round nuts. There is one that produces very large, round nuts but when those are cracked, the meats are dried and black. My take on this..the tree has been damaged by numerous hurricanes and perhaps is diseased. These nuts are much easier to crack than the small nuts but the ruined meat makes the effort futile. Then there is the tree in the front of the house. This tree is not nearly as large as the others although it produces the largest nuts! The nuts of this hickory are not round..they have the appearance of being a cross between a hickory and a pecan if that is possible. The nut is oblong..about two and a half inches in length! Now that is quite a large hickory nut for the trees on the Bayou! This tree has just started producing and this past year covered the ground with nuts. The squirrels and raccoons got the bulk of the nuts and the remainder were eventually washed down the hill into the marsh. I was not thinking or I would have definitely spent some time gathering the nuts.

In the years past, the kids and I would gather a few of the nuts from other trees and try them just out of curiosity. They would take hammers and smack the nuts to pieces! The meats were usually smacked to pieces along with the shells. We tried all methods of cracking. The lever-type nutcracker worked but smashed the nut into such small shell-laced pieces that we were eating more shell than meats. If you have never tasted nut shells, my advice..don't! Those have to be the bitterest things ever created! We tried the hand-held nutcracker and pretty much wore ourselves out trying to open the first nut. Plus when we finally managed to crack the nut, the shells went flying across the room. At this point, I will warn you never to step on a shard of hickory shell! I have a tendency to go barefoot in house and oh, my goodness! Those hurt! Now I have found an article that explains a "surefire" method of cracking those beauties. It seems that a hammer making impact on a specific point of the nut does the trick! The specific point being about one third down the nut from the stem end. Who knew? Perhaps we just never aimed our hammers right! Perhaps young kids with hammers give in to the temptation to smack everything with the power of a jackhammer. Perhaps our nuts were mutant rocks that could never be broken in any sane manner. I can only say that the information in the article could not have come at a better time! The hickory trees are loaded with nuts this year! Late October or early November will see the yard being pelted with the heavy nuts and hopefully, I will be able to beat the squirrels and coons to a few. I would love to try the new method of cracking the nuts assuming my aim will allow me to hit them in the "prime" spot! It just seems such a waste to not at least try to harvest the nuts.

This morning, I noticed a lovely morning glory blooming near the birdfeeders. Not that morning glories are anything special but the way the early morning sun illuminated the blossom was almost breathtaking. The flower literally glowed! It seems such a shame that such a pretty blossom only opens for such a short time before wilting away with the heat of the day.