Ah-HA! The Internet and it's endless resources!
So, I began processing Black Walnuts today for the first time. I had heard that if you take a thick piece of plywood with a whole in it, and then smash the nut that the husk & hull will come off and it will leave the nut. When I thought about that, I didn't know how big to make the hole, because the nuts seem to be different sizes, so then I just thought- hey, how have humans figured this stuff out? Well, just start smashing!
So, quickly I learned some useful things about the anatomy of the nut. How the husk is soft and on the outside, the hard shell is on the inside, and a couple nuts are inside there, tucked in. I also learned how my hands can quickly become stained when processing the husks. I was having trouble getting the nuts out whole, and also was feeling unclear about if the nuts were ready to eat at this phase (at least for squirrels), or if there was another process....
Coming in to the computer, I came across this useful resource of someone explaining the process he goes through to process black walnuts. Very thorough and accessible. So, here you go:
Black Walnut Processing
Part ONE (1st Half):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cPNn7WyPkk&feature=relmfu
Part ONE (2nd Half):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUpsaokMYBQ&feature=relmfu
Part Two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW__UlLoyzU&feature=relmfu
AND ONE MORE TECHNIQUE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5wjt10Rmvw&feature=related
ENJOY!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Lemon Cucumber & Tomato Salad!
A take on my mother's hand-me-down recipe is the Italian Tomato Salad, which includes:
-Tomatoes
-Onions
-Garlic
-Cucumbers
all roughly chopped
and then covered with Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Oregano, Chopped Basil (optional), and Salt & Pepper to taste.
mmmm!
Rather than what was conventionally sold in store, this Italian Tomato Salad had some fresh-out-of-the-garden Lemon Cucumbers, walla walla onions, paste tomatoes, golden sun cherry tomatoes, and our garlic (which I don't remember anymore what the variety is because it was handed down to me in Vermont and been so many years now!
mmmmmm!
Oh yes, and an important recipe note: the longer the Italian Tomato Salad sits, the less acidic the onions are, and the more the flavor has melded with the oils & vinaigrette. Best left in the fridge for at least a few hours, if not more!
ENJOY!
Aquaponics, Root Systems & Seedlings
These plants were pulled from the Aquaponics Greenhouse, while thinning/weeding. In doing so, and because there is no soil that weighs on the plants, just layers of rocks and pebbles of which the plants' roots can easily wiggle out, beautiful root systems were revealed. On the left a young watermelon plant, and on the right a bunch of young leggy tomatillos. It is interesting to notice how they create their roots... many and thin, shallow, thick and fewer, more central, long, short. We can learn a lot here to observe these root systems....
That being said, with these young plants coming out of the aquaponics growbeds so easily, without damaging any of the roots, I think about the upcoming Spring and starting seedlings and transplants. I remember Noah telling me just this sort of thing- that using the aquaponic system to start plants was a great way to use the rock/pebble grow beds with lots of substrate to move through. A-ha! So now I see it for myself. Another benefit for seedlings starting in the aquaponic growbeds, is that they will always have water at their access- an essential element in keeping young plants happy and thriving.
....Till the Spring!
Beware the Black Walnut!
The wolf in sheep's clothing, or rather, the nut in a lime citrus fruit's husk; Juglans nigra; and most commonly known as the Black Walnut.
A beautiful, rapidly growing nut tree with BIG nuts! (and did I mention hard ones to open!) Their leaves and the nuts look almost tropical with their breezy palm nature.
PLANTS SENSITIVE TO BLACK WALNUT TOXICITY
Annuals and vegetables: asparagus, cabbage, eggplant, flowering tobacco, pepper, petunia, potato, tomato
Herbaceous perennials: autumn crocus, baptisia, columbine, lily (Asian hybrids), peony, rhubarb
Shrubs: blueberry, red chokeberry, cotoneaster, Amur honeysuckle, hydrangea, lilac, privet, potentilla, rhododendron, yew, and some viburnum shrub species
Trees: European alder, white birch, crabapple species, hackberry, larch, linden, saucer magnolia, mugo pine, red pine, white pine, Norway spruce, silver maple, and some viburnum tree species
Luckily, Black Walnut DOES get along with other plants. Many of them! Check it out- if you're on this list, you've got a friendship in store:
PLANTS TOLERANT OF BLACK WALNUT TOXICITY
References: The Morton Arboretum website,
http://www.mortonarb.org/tree-plant-advice/article/887/plants-tolerant-of-black-walnut-toxicity.html
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