Over the weekend I got brave, encouraged by an eleven year old, to pick up the yellow-green fruits from our Black Walnut tree for the first time in 19 years since we’ve lived on this property. The tree was producing its lime-like nut enclosures all along but I never paid them any attention. After a little web research I chose the simplest way to crack the thick and rumply green hulls by putting them in a paper bag and driving over them with my Soul (car that is). The websites warned to wear heavy gloves in order to avoid permanent yellow stains on hands or clothes. The potent walnut juice can be made into dye or ink it’s so intense. I followed these instructions and now the newborn walnuts are lined up to dry for a few weeks, safely hid inside our house from the squirrels and other hungry rodents.
Photo from Morton Arboretum, Lisle Illinois
Once when visiting the Stickley Furniture factory in New York with a group from Toms-Price, we stopped for lunch at a spot where there was a gorgeous big black walnut tree. Oh, how the Stickley folks looked longingly at it, imagining the furniture that could spring from its sturdy trunk. Gustav Stickley was a pioneer of the conservation ethic, along with Teddy Roosevelt. The North American hardwoods sculpted into furniture by Stickley’s craftsmen today are no longer threatened or scarce. The forests they come from are growing quite a bit faster than they are being harvested.
Black Walnut Tree – Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois
Stickley furniture is made with sustainable timber and energy efficient technology. They even heat the factory with sawdust! Best of all, Stickley furniture never has to take up space in a landfill, but lasts for generations.
