the Walnut Diary

Tom and Tony:

I spent part of today with Neil Thomas on his walnut plantation near Lansdowne. Between him and the forestry guys, they persuaded me that it would be a good idea to plant a field to walnut trees this November, with a view to harvesting and selling the nuts. Gary Nielson (committee chair) and I gathered about a bushel of walnuts in one of Sean’s drop-cloths before the meeting. I need to produce a similar quantity for shipment to Neil for processing by the end of the week. He washes/crushes/scrubs the husks off them in a mill he invented himself, treats them with a fungicide, chills them damp in a refrigerator for a while, and then they are ready for fall planting. His preferred method is to stick a shovel handle into the ground about the depth of a finger, drop a walnut into the hole, then press it down slightly with the shovel handle. Leave the hole open for the frost to close it in. He has very good success propagating walnuts using this technique, as evidenced by 12 years of notes and a whole lot of trees growing in rows.

He has the mechanical engineering department at Algonquin designing walnut‑shelling equipment for him. The guy seems to have clout, imagination, and lots of smarts.

Rod