Imagine a line drawn between Bordeaux in the West, and Grenoble in the East, and there you have your division. Above the line; dragons. Below the line; walnuts.
At this time of year, with the branches bare, one can clearly see the yellow lichens so typical of our trees. One can also see what birds made it their home the previous Spring.
Of course the dogs are always on the look-out for ungathered nuts, and the sound of their crunching accompanies most of our walks. I still make a point of eating about 8 nuts each day myself; but mine are consumed indoors.
There was a walnut tree in the garden where I grew up. Only when you have one at hand like that are you likely to taste them while they are still moist and crunchy. Brilliant. Not many in England though. Even that one is gone.
ReplyDeleteWe had one in our Surrey garden, when I was small, but it never properly ripened and the nuts were always used for pickling.
ReplyDeleteah doggie trots later!!!
Deletestill cannot post a comment on your blog cro... box not loading...... so I wil continue to do so via these "reply" links!
have a nice day!
What, you mean you don't fight the dogs for them al fresco? ;)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, striking picture of the tree. Henry loves walnuts too. I found this out at Christmas when cracked, chewed up shells kept making their way into the hall.
ReplyDeleteSorry Cro, I beg to differ with your line across France. We live between Clermont Ferrand and Lyon,(near Roanne) which according to the map I looked at, is north of your line. We have walnut trees around here - we gather green walnuts around St John's day and make walnut wine, and our friends gather their walnuts and make walnut oil. So, no dragons here (except me!) but plenty of walnut trees!
ReplyDeleteHi FD. Walnut trees are everywhere (even in the UK as I said above), but it's very noticeable when you get down here (past the dragons) that there are suddenly so many more. We have huge plantations, and of course lots are self-sown.
DeleteA generalisation, I know. Beware those dragons!
my great grandmother had a huge walnut tree in her front yard. As kids we loved to gather them, crack them open and pop the fleshy nut into our mouths. Yum.
ReplyDeleteWe used to go up into "the hills", or where we pastured the hogs in summer. We gathered the black walnuts, and put them where the tractor would drive over them, breaking open the green hulls. Then we collected them. Cracked them during the winter, and baked everything with walnuts. Good memories. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI have a Hickory tree in my yard. It is beautiful in the spring, melodious in the late summer with the sound of the falling nuts through the trees, and great fun in the fall while watching all the squirrels running around hiding them for winter.
ReplyDelete