i broke my BIG RULE.  which is, if i cannot be organized enough to get what i need when in town, i have to wait till the next Town Day.  well…i forgot toilet paper yesterday and also garbanzo beans.  i really wanted to make hummus.  so.  FAST run this morning.  and on the way out of town, i had a sudden urge to stop and see if that walnut tree by the Brew Pub was doing anything.  you might remember that i was told about it last year, but when i looked, there was nothing….so, thought i'd just look.  and as Cindy says, Glory Be.  

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i emptied the big basket.  took the time to remember i want to make an altar cloth of this pattern next

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last year, i don't know why, i just assumed it would be in the Fall that the nuts would fall.  well,…..Wrong.  here they were lying gently under the tree and i filled the two cloth shopping bags but still leaving some there .  Walnuts.  i have Walnuts.  

and i forgot to upload the last pic.  will do that one as an edit.  but .  the old cast iron is set to work.

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and JUDE, if you look here…How is best to keep some of them for adding later?  is in the basket good?  so there is air circulating?  is inside better where they won't get wet with these Moonsoon rains?  and i just thought…would it be best to just scatter them on the earth as they were when they fell from their Tree?  Some i will give to Marti when she returns.  she, being much more adept than i am with dye magic, with understanding the Substance and what it wants.  but there will still be enough left to Just Go till next harvest.  How to keep them????? 

 

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16 responses to “150”

  1. Nance Avatar
    Nance

    Some say to put them in a bucket of water and let them ferment over the winter… This does work, I can attest. Because I didn’t get to them last fall and that’s what they did. Then I read that that is what you should do… So. I know there are more ways. Another thing is you don’t need a mordant with walnut. Congratulations. I guess you don’t have squirrels that will gobble them up like here. We have to get to them first. But then I give them the nuts later since that’s what they really want.

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  2. Judith in N. Calif. Avatar
    Judith in N. Calif.

    Grace,
    Years ago I did a walnut dye pot…it was two canning pots worth. A little dye goes a long way and I’ve been storing the liquid in two 5 gal. new plastic gas cans ever since. Occasional, I would add a little liquid back after using a small amount towards a new dye pot. That was about 14 years ago still potent !

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  3. Nance Avatar
    Nance

    That’s good to know… I still have some and I was wondering if it would still be good!

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  4. grace Avatar
    grace

    eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, my little shrill trill of happiness….
    for TWO THINGS…one the ifo on walnut INK and TWO, that
    you are in N. Cal where i look to maybe someday?????
    Do you love N. Cal? or even just like it?
    i am starved for N. Cal info

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  5. Judith in N. Calif. Avatar
    Judith in N. Calif.

    Sorry for the late/early reply, I go to bed early and get up early ! I’m a native Californian and have lots to share…will email you later today (meanwhile start thinking of questions you’d like to ask). I used to have a handspinners flock of sheep so relate to your life with goats. It’s been 19 yrs. since I had “my girls” and I still miss them.

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  6. jude Avatar

    they get moldy without air circulating. they get black and break down into almost powder after a while, you can crack off the thick skin and take the nut out, the skins will just dry to a powder after a while. still usable though. if the vat gets moldy or attracts insects put a bit of white vinegar in. also reddens the color a bit. it’s a forever thing. i keep mine outside covered. freezes thaws, still dyes. I add a few more walnuts each year. I’ll talk more about it over at diaries. they won’t start dropping here until early September. i like the simplicity of it. i suppose there is more to know, maybe we will learn.

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  7. grace Avatar
    grace

    ahhh. i just need some “seeds” for that possibility if
    it comes. let them scatter around, wait. thanks for
    this.
    my guess is that sheep/goats would always hold a
    strong place in a heart

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  8. grace Avatar
    grace

    oh, i remember the reddened you did…YES! so i will need
    two vats then.

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  9. beth Avatar

    Walnuts already! I need to go look. Lucky enough to have several trees in our woods. But I am thinking September/October here. Last year I smashed the green hulls with a rock before I threw them in the bucket. Ah–adding vinegar. I have not done that…

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  10. grace Forrest Avatar

    i’m still thinking. maybe in the defunct indio pot? it
    has a lid.

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  11. grace Forrest Avatar

    i think these are inordinately Early. maybe because they
    are in the city?…the tree is in front of a large
    restrauant, Socorro Brew Pub. sheltered.
    the ones i mentioned a couple days ago are out in the wild.
    yes. the reddish color. i’d like that.

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  12. velma Avatar

    hi grace, it’s been a while but i thought i’d tell you about my walnut vat. it’s in the paper mill, in a 5 gallon bucket with lid. it’s been there for years (maybe 7 or 8) and is thick and rich. every few years i add some more walnuts. sometimes i take away nuts and dye liquor, and add them to a new dye pot (plus more water) and do some hot dyeing. other times i just use that brew like paint. if mold forms i scrape it off. usually the nuts get moldy, but the liquid (half full of nuts water to top) doesn’t much.

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  13. NM Creatrix Avatar

    Found your site through Jude, and thought that the clouds looked like NM! I am in Albuquerque, but heading back to Texas, where there are lots of walnuts!

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  14. grace Avatar
    grace

    THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
    today i set the two new big pots to work. Thank You
    SO MUCH
    for your Way of Walnut…
    i did it. just as you said.

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  15. grace Avatar
    grace

    are you staying then, in Tx? or is this a trip?

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  16. sneak a stitch Avatar

    Your post has inspired me to collect the walnuts near my house. It looks like you collected the green ones as well as the darken ones. Is cast iron the best pot to use?

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