A tough nut to crack
If you want to go gathering nuts, try picking slightly unripe ones before the squirrels get them, says Bob
IF you have a little nut tree, nothing will it bear… Well, it probably will bear nuts, but as everyone knows the squirrels get there first. Sadly, this is one of the few difficulties with most nuts, which are remarkably simple to cultivate and come into crop from as early in life as an apple or pear. (True, walnuts can take ages, but they’re an exception.) Indeed, hazel, cob and filbert nuts are the most superb low-maintenance, highprotein, high-fat crop that also produces faggots, firewood and sustains many native insects.
We should all plant some nut trees, but most people are put off by the rightly held belief that squirrels will take the lot, helped by other rodents and larger birds. Our problem is that we traditionally gather the nuts when they have fallen. By this time, though, the pesky varmints have already picked through them, taking the best, though generously leaving the rotten and weevil eaten.
Now I’ve often suggested we steal many of those nuts back again, as the squirrels don’t bury them very deep and usually not very far away. Thus, by heavily raking around the bushes, you can often recover a surprising number of nuts.
More effective is to put sheets underneath and knock down ripe nuts earlier, so getting more before the squirrels take them. And if you are only used to the dried, fully ripe nuts, you may be surprised by how delicious these tad unripe and still ‘milky’ nuts are. This means you can take nuts almost before they are ready enough for the squirrels. Simply pull or preferably cut them off, and then eat within a few days as they won’t store for long. They make the most wonderful smoothies, and a delicious sweet nut roast or even a stuffing.