When I was a boy I discovered if I took a gunny sack and collected the Black Walnuts that fell from the trees on our farm I could sell them to the local processor and become RICH! Looking back I probably got less than $10, but when you are 9 years old in 1956, a ten-spot is fabulous wealth. I've got a bunch of walnut trees on my place now--they are a weed in S.W. Missouri. We also piled them onto our driveway and mom would drive over them for several days, effortlessly hulling them. I'd collect the nuts and we'd dry them, and around Christmas we'd be treated to Black Walnut cookies. Yum.
Great resource there but don't just waste those hulls. Chop up the green outer hull, soak it in vodka or other 40%/80 proof or more alcohol and the resultant tincture is one of the best sources of vital iodine you can get away from the ocean. Cures all kinds of ailments caused by iodine deficiency. Also one of the best anti-parasitic medicines there is for you & your pets. Press the nuts for one of the best vegetable oils there is. Far better than Olive Oil. And if you refine some of it the right way, its an outstanding wood finish with properties similar to Tung Oil.
Thanks RabbleRouser. I'll experiment with that. I really like the smell of the green walnuts. The processor has a mountain of hulls from the previous years. I have heard that they do not make good mulch/compost because of some substance in them. Anyone have any experience with this?
One can make an excellent dye from the hulls too and they also work well for trappers who wish to mask their scent on traps.
Indians used hulls to stun fish in ponds and slow moving streams. Sent from my LML212VL using Tapatalk
I've only seen one Black Walnut tree in my life, and that was down in Mass. 40 yrs. ago, I wonder if it is still there.
Years ago I parked a car under a walnut tree not knowing what it was. It took campinspecter a long time to get the goo off the car. I was not popular at the time.
I park under my walnut trees all the time but the only thing that ever falls off is.... walnuts. Boy they make a THUMP when they hit my truck. No dents tho.
Must have a better truck than me, one fell on my trucks hood at Walt's GTG a couple years ago and left a nice indentation!
This reminds me of a couple years ago when I was taking some cider to our friend wishlist. Going down the roads I got hit several times with walnuts. No damage.
Lots of roadside walnut trees planted around me . On another note , just a few miles south is the second largest black walnut tree in Michigan . I need to get a pic and let you all guess what the circumference is on it . It’s huge ! I bet my last dollar that you could park a dozen cars under it .
JotulYokel I also grew up with an immense BW tree in our backyard. Had my fingers stained many times removing the husks. Have a few on our property, but only one big one. Still like the the smell. Should get an industrial grinder for the hulls, used often for "sand" blasting medium.
My 07 GMC Sierra looks like somebody threw a fit on the hood & roof with a ball-pein hammer and that's just from acorns & Hickory nuts. damm things are made of tinfoil these days. If I can't find a property with Walnut trees on it when I move north, I will certainly be planting them.
I am of the opinion that many if not most of these "studies" go a bit, or a lot, overboard with their claims of toxicity. In regards to the horses, yes, they can have serious problems, but they have a very different digestive system than we do. They are very dependent on bacteria to break down the grasses and insoluble fiber they eat and the Walnut is very anti-bacterial. I have a half gallon jar under my counter I filled last fall with chunks of the green outer hull and water. I use it on the dog if he starts getting skin rashes/bites or anything of that nature in the spring, clears it up real fast. But that bottle has been sitting there for a solid year and it still smells like fresh Walnut hulls. Bacteria and molds/fungus/yeasts just can't grow in the stuff.
