Nuts!

Nuts and beans are a great source of protein!

We have a lot of native Shagbark and Shellbark Hickories in our Missouri woods. I think that Hickories are the best tasting nut that will last through the winter without refrigeration. We are also growing 3 Chinese Chestnuts and 17 pecans. They are outstanding fresh and for about a month after harvest, but they go bad really soon because of their high oil content. Hickories and Walnuts will last a lot longer in their shell in dry storage. If you want to store Pecans and Chestnuts for long periods of time, you must shell and freeze them.

This is one of the best tools we have. You can pick up these nut crackers for about $20 in several nursery catalogs. I just ate these Hickory nuts 4 months after harvest and they were great.

We are not set up to process our own native Black Walnuts, so we take them to a country store where the kids can sell them. We are growing Carpathian English Walnuts, but have not yet had any nut production.

They utilize everything. The Walnut meat is sold for candy products and cooking. The shells are used as an industrial abrasive for many uses including oil drilling and polishing metals.