nuts

Got you thinking?!? Well, I mean nuts that grow on trees. We have been collecting a lot of nuts from the forest floor and pavement on our hikes in the woods and neighborhood walks.
We have been identifying the trees they come from, playing with them and reconstructing some out of last years discarded husks and dried out nuts. We often see teeth marks from squirrels and chipmunks. So far we have collected mostly beech nuts, hickory nuts ( a couple of different species, but I don't know them apart yet) and black walnuts.
I got Jove his own tree field guide and we have been using it to identify stuff all over the place. He is also picking those little red sticky fruits off all of the Yew bushes in the neighborhood. I remember doing the same thing myself as a kid.

I am learning a lot and finding myself staying up late reading about nuts. I even stumbled across an Appalachian cooking website that described how to cook with Hickory "milk." Well... for now we are just collecting them.

But, I did come across this quote that I really have to share. Enjoy!

“Every majestic oak tree was once a nut who stood his ground.”