Rolandvue 1st Week in October: It's Nuts, Chestnuts,Walnuts, Beechnuts

There is renewed interest in the field of neuro-botany.  How to trees "know" predators or "remember" past droughts? How do trees communicate? How do they know the seasons? For whatever reason,the nuts are dropping due to some combination of time,temperature and light cycle.

The walnuts support whole industries in Europe but are rarely used here.  They have to be gathered and separated from the outer green skin quickly.  Then the cracking or hulling requires more than the usual pressure,consider car tires.  It is a common tree in Baltimore county, but not much interest in either the nut or the liquors produced elsewhere.

The chestnuts are essentially all asian with possible hybrid on Rolandvue near the entrance of Cloverlea.  Making them edible also requires work.  The worms which can be frequent motivates cooking them rather than eating them raw.  They are not easy to free of skin but can be made into a potato-like mash. Pretty good with a little seasoning.  The loss of American chestnuts by blight may have worsened the Great Depression by dislocating whole populations.

Chestnuts do not in general self fertilize so with enough distance there would be fewer balls from hell, but here on the top of Cloverlea hill there are four close to each other. The pollen can spread up to 200 yards. The spiny outer husk can be opened with your shoes before carefully extracting the nuts.

The beechnuts are so small they are hardly worth foraging.  Maybe better as animal feed.  Then enjoy the animal.

"ball from hell" protecting the asian chestnut.

Contrast between the large walnut and the beechnut.Rarely used for food.