Harvesting Pecans
Growing up in Michigan, I have fond memories of going nut hunting as a child. I think this was one of the big reasons why I wanted to plant nut trees as part of the Boutique farm. I knew that both walnuts and pecans could grow in Palisade. I know this because Andy and I looked at a property early in our search that had both growing on it. We ended up passing on that piece of land because it was too large and needed too much work. However, as the days turned into months, I kept thinking about those nut trees and started to research what it would take to plant and grow my own. So, you can imagine my delight when we came across another property that had nine mature Pecan trees as part of its landscape! The property was even referred to as The Pecan House!
Eight months later… we are now the proud owners of the Pecan house and those trees! Our research has evolved from planting to learning how to harvest them. We gleaned a lot of information from different sources, never a 100% sure of the process or what we needed to do to harvest the nuts. With the climate constantly changing we were also not clear on when harvest would start. In some areas of the country harvest starts in September while in others it can be as late as December. Colorado seems to fall in the latter category.
As we watched the nuts grow in their green hulls, we collected all the old ones still on the ground from the previous year. By doing this, we wouldn’t have to wonder if what we were harvesting were old nut verses the new ones. With this task completed, we continued to watch and wait for signs the nuts were ready. Early fall moved into late fall, and we continued to watch, wait, and research. We learned that the green nuts which are still in their hulls are not ready even if they fall to the ground. They are also incredibly hard to open and if you are successful in opening them, the nuts inside are bitter in taste. The green hulls also stain your figures; I learned that the hard way!
Every day when we walked the property around the trees, we’d notice more and more nuts and we continued to wait. One weekend we had high winds and noticed the next day that there were quite a few green nuts on the ground. This distressed us until we read that this is part of the normal process.
Then we had our first frost, after that our green nuts turned brown! Another wave of panic hit, did we just loose our nut crop? Again, more research told us that no, this too is part of the natural process. The nuts need the frost, to then turn the hulls brown. When the nuts are ready the brown hulls start to open and as they do the nuts are released and fall to the ground. When is occurs, the Pecans are ready to harvest!
At this point, the real race begins, as we are not the only ones it seems waiting for the nuts to fall. Our competition comes in the form of Ravens, squirrels, and Magpies. Andy has also seen and heard Thrushes trying to crack the nuts on the walls and roof of our house.
Each day we go out and gather nuts. Once collected, we need to place them in a shallow layer in a warm dry area for about two weeks. Originally, I was thinking we could dry them in our mud room, but I think the fruit shed which we’ve turned into a temporary greenhouse might be a better location. We have grow lights and heat lamps in the shed, and are storing my large potted plants in it. The fruit shed is also insulated. We will use mesh bags for the drying process. Once the bags are filled with the Pecans, we can then hang them from the rafters to dry. This should allow the air to flow around and through the bags, keep them off the floor and allow me to maneuver around the nuts and my potted plants. As of the writing of this blog post, we’ve not yet completed this task.
According to my research a single mature Pecan tree should produce about 50 pounds of nuts. If this is correct, then in theory we should have about 450 pounds of Pecans at harvests end. Since our goal is to sell our nuts, this would be awesome! As far as I can tell, Pecans are not being sold at our local farm stands. Although many of these establishments close after the growing season is over, a few of them are staying open as they have producers who are growing year-round in green houses. These are the folks we plan to target for our nut sales. We’ve already started a conversation with Blaine’s Farm Store. Currently they are in the process of renovating their store, so it is insulated and has heat. So, fingers crossed once they reopen, we will have enough nuts harvested and dried to entice them to take us on as their exclusive nut provider. I will keep you posted on the progress of that endeavor, but until them… I’m off to gather more nuts!
