Posting the latest page I have completed in my old nature journal that I started back in 2014. This one is for the month of October. That year we were able to gather our first almonds from the three trees my husband planted in 2012. There were just a handful to gloat over but it was exciting to see them bear so soon. Did you know that almonds are not really nuts, but are the seed of the almond fruit that is called a drupe? We do have a particular tree that was named a Two-In-One because you can really eat the outside "meat" that surrounds the almond shell that surrounds the kernel inside that is the almond itself. The shells are incredibly hard and difficult to crack open. I did use the "fruit" and it is sort of like an apricot. I made a little jam out of the few fruits that we reaped- I think it was only one little jar! But that was interesting. Another interesting thing we are finding out- this past fall we had a huge harvest of almonds and my husband has been trying to find a cracking machine to buy so we won't have to do them all the old-fashioned hard way. A pecan sheller will not crack these almond cases! They are too hard. And the black walnut crackers are made with too large of an opening to accomodate almonds. The machines he has found are really expensive. So for now, the almonds are keeping in our freezer until we can bring ourselves to pay for a cracker. When you do them by hand, the shells shoot all around the place...if our production keeps up like it did this past fall, we will have to invest in a machine. Maybe it will turn into a little side business! Some that my husband found have adjustable openings that would make the machine work for black walnuts AND almonds, so that might bring us some walnut customers anyway.
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