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Topic ClosedHarvesting and Selling Black Walnuts
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KsTornado View Drop Down
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Posts: 30 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 September 2006 at 11:13pm

Well, I wonder if selling locally would bring in more money? We gathered a couple wheelbarrels full yesterday, and I heard the "thump thump thump" and screeching of the chickens alll day today as the walnuts fell from the trees... one narrowly missed hitting me on the head as I built a new nestbox!!  

  Depending on how it goes, after we freeze some, cook some ,give some as gifts, I thought to put an ad in the local Read It Free newspaper, maybe just under what they sell them for at the local Wal-Mart & grocery store? This is a very rural area, and lots of folks read the free paper, and of course will be baking alot for the holidays!
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Posts: 3155 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 September 2006 at 11:20pm
great idea
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jnap31 View Drop Down
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Posts: 1040 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 September 2006 at 5:35am
Originally posted by cmjust0

I found the Hammons Products website and, surprisingly, there's a huller in my area.  According to this page, they're paying $13/hundredweight after hulling.  If it took 13 hulled walnuts to make a pound, for instance, they're worth about a penny each.  If I'm not mistaken, the packaged nutmeat sells for about $6/lb in stores.

Collecting walnuts sounds like a good job for young kids.  This way, they get to learn early that people sometimes do tedious, monotonous, backbreaking work only to have their raw product practically stolen by a monopsonistic corporate entity who uses it to make an absolute KILLING for themselves.

 

ROTFL How true! that is an excellent suggestion

marching to the beat of a different drummer so sometimes missunderstood
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germanbini View Drop Down
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Posts: 1583 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 September 2006 at 9:19am
I myself got three bags full yesterday (gave one away, and have another tree here still yet to do!)  Here are a few websites that might be helpful.

Harvesting Black Walnuts

Black Walnut Info

Recipe for Black Walnut Dye

Black Walnut Harvest Watch Begins Soon

MANHATTAN, Kan. – When black walnuts are falling from the tree or their hull can be dented by the pressure of a thumb, the nuts are ready for harvest, a Kansas State University horticulturist said.

Nut gatherers have to watch for that. In Kansas, for example, the walnut harvest sometimes arrives in September and sometimes in October.

"It’s important to hull the walnuts soon after they’re harvest-ready," said Ward Upham, horticulturist with K-State Research and Extension. "If not removed, the hull will leach a stain through the entire nut – which will not only discolor the meat but also give it an off flavor."

Walnut hulls also can stain skin and fabric, so Upham recommends working with walnuts in gloves and old clothing.

Some nut gatherers hull their harvest by running the nuts through a corn sheller, he said. Nut crackers typically are not strong enough for the job, although crackers specifically made to handle black walnuts occasionally appear on the market. A homemade approach is to pound walnuts through a board with a drilled hole that’s big enough for a shelled nut to fit through, but smaller than the hulls.

"Then you need to wash the hulled nuts by spreading them out on the lawn or a wire mesh screen and spraying them with water," Upham said. "Another option is to place them in a tub of water."

In a water tub, the good nuts will sink. Typically, those that float are not well-filled.

"Dry the nuts by spreading them in layers – no more than three deep – in a cool, shady and dry place, such as a garage or tool shed," Upham said. "Drying normally takes about two weeks."


A helpful hint for opening the cured nuts (not hulls): bake in a low oven for about 1/2 hour.

By the way, I found this on a website, and I remember reading about it somewhere on another site as well:

Do not compost walnut husks. Juglone, a chemical released by walnut trees, is toxic to some vegetables and plants, such as tomatoes.  This is also why you don't want to plant your tomatoes near or under a walnut tree.
‎"There can be miracles, when you believe"

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WVgal View Drop Down
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Posts: 10454 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 September 2006 at 9:34am
Originally posted by cmjust0

I found the Hammons Products website and, surprisingly, there's a huller in my area.  According to this page, they're paying $13/hundredweight after hulling.  If it took 13 hulled walnuts to make a pound, for instance, they're worth about a penny each.  If I'm not mistaken, the packaged nutmeat sells for about $6/lb in stores.

Collecting walnuts sounds like a good job for young kids.  This way, they get to learn early that people sometimes do tedious, monotonous, backbreaking work only to have their raw product practically stolen by a monopsonistic corporate entity who uses it to make an absolute KILLING for themselves.

 

Sad but true.  What say we circumvent the nasty corporations and just sell direct to the consumer?

I think some folks here have some great ideas.  I have seen in gardening catalogs a special nutcracker designed for black walnuts.    I keep telling myself I'll get one someday.  Two cinder blocks work, though.  One to put the nut on and one to bash it with.  You have tp allow the nots to "cure" for awhile until the husks get brown.  Then you have to remove the husks.  This is a messy job.  Walnut husks make a great brown dye.  Some people put them min the driveway and drive over them.  Then you crack them.  But mam oh man are they worth it!  And you can sell them on the Internet or through a local paper at a premium once you've done all that work.  I think it's a great enterprise for young kids.  To learn independence from the big nasty corporations!
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cabininthewoods View Drop Down
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Posts: 905 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 September 2006 at 8:13pm

I am wondering if anyone would like to pm me and tell me if they have some walnuts to sell to me.  I of course would pay shipping etc. as well as the price of the nuts.

Mary
"Living well is the best revenge"
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deedee75845 View Drop Down
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Posts: 113 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 September 2006 at 2:39pm
i call hammons products today about buy walnut they dont buy from texas ..cause its to for only buy from mi,ok,ark. left me out
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WVgal View Drop Down
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Posts: 10454 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 September 2006 at 3:08pm

Deedee, try shelling and selling them yourself!  More money for you!  That's what I plan to do.
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Posts: 621 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 October 2006 at 12:24pm
Hey, let me give you a tip for opening the hulls on your walnuts the easy way.  Mom always started collecting walnuts about the same time that the persimmons were getting ready, and just before we got the pawpaws (kentucky bananas) before the coons could.  We would spread the walnuts that fell off the trees, still in the green shell out on the driveway.  After you drive over them several times, just on your normal routine in and out, you can pick up the nuts still in the shell.  Then, we'd put them out on the deck rail, or on top of the well house, in full sun most of the day.  After a couple of warm days, we'd get them, and take them to the woodpile, and use a hammer to break them open on the chopping block.  We'd put them between two window screens,weighted down by rocks in the corners, so the squirrels wouldn't benefit from all our hard work, and this would dry them out.  We'd have to share the top of the well house with the screens with apple slices between them that we were drying, but we'd end up with thirty or fourty pounds of shelled walnuts, and sold them to the same people we sold eggs to.  It was usually enough money to buy us each a new pair of boots for winter!!
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DittosMom View Drop Down
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Posts: 768 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 October 2006 at 1:24pm

LOL.Thanks fer the info germanbini.......we have a huge tree behinf the Hen House and right next to the outhouse.sounds like yer being bombed at times. Told the Kiddos we were gona have to start taking an umbrella when we go potty!!!!
Merry Meet and Merry Part, Blessed Be to the kind of heart.

Ditto Falls ~ NE Arkansas
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