When the boys were young we would work together cleaning them up. We would shovel them into old feed bags and take them to a local drop-off point. I don't actually remember but I'd say we would collect at least six to ten 100lb. feed sacks full of them, throw them in the back of the pick up and take to the drop off point. Here we would be paid for the walnuts we collected. It usually amounted to a little more than it cost for the gas to get there. But at least it gave the boys and I an opportunity to do something together besides watching TV.
Now the boys are gone but the walnuts are not, they keep falling every autumn and now its up to Marla and I to deal with them. And every year while cleaning up walnuts we have the same conversation. . . ."lets cut these things down so that we don't have this work every year". (This is why I hate walnut trees) So a few weeks ago I cut one down. The top branches would provide a lot of firewood to keep my woodshop warm in the winter, the two, ten foot logs would provide some premium quality lumber with which to make some beautiful cabinets or heirloom quality furniture. (This is why I love walnut trees.)
"The heft and feel of a well-worn handle,
The sight of shavings that curl from a blade;
The logs in the woodpile, the sentiment of huge
beams in an old-fashioned house;
The smell of fresh cut timber and the pungent
fragrance of burning leaves;
The crackle of kindling and the hiss of burning logs,
Abundant to all the needs of man, how poor the world would be
Without wood.
Do you have an agrarian love/hate relationship? If you do I'd like to hear about it. Send me a comment below.
Thanks again for dropping by Lil Bitty Farm blog.
Todd