Dec 17… 31 salads harvested so far.
Sure crop strawberries… some nice color.
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It rained here this morning but cleared up some mid morning. Went foraging again out at the natchez trace. Hoping to locate more shagbark hickory… but found none at the location I checked today…
But… about 20 yards from a park parkinglot… at a trailhead to a waterfall… these two nice mockernut hickories were conveniently located near the roadway. Their limbs of course reaching out to the sunny side… where the park folks keep the grass mowed.
The ground was covered with nuts… some were tailing but most were still looking good.
You can harvest 1 gal of hickory nuts per day there… and I brought back a full gallon of mockers (husk off).
Perhaps next time I will find more shag… or a shellbark.
TNHunter
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I bought this tree many years ago, online . . . and don’t recall where I got it.
But, I bought some tiny ones at Home Depot a couple of years ago, when they had many little pots - offering Persian Limes, Meyer Lemons and some sort of orange. I’ve repotted the lime a couple of times - and brought it in a few weeks ago. So far, so good . . . it’s even setting new fruit. I put it in an upstairs room (not easy!) near some large picture windows. I mist it when I remember to - and try to keep it watered. We did get limes this summer - and they were very good. Wonderful fragrance. . . . . But the Meyer Lemons are better!
The Meyer is in my husband’s little greenhouse and produces like crazy. I collect rain water to water it - and its roots have gone through the bottom of the large pot he has it in . . . and into the ground below. The lemons can get enormous. I have picked them when they still have lots of green on them - and they are tarter than if I let them yellow up.
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We had 29 here last night… but by 10 am… nice and sunny 50 degrees. I got out and did some more foraging today… found 6 nice shagbark hickory trees and 3 nice mockers too. Now that I have located all these shagbark trees… I should be able to harvest all I need next October.
I managed to find several shag nuts… and collected a few mockers too.
The few in the top of the pic are mockers… the large group below shag.
@Lucky_P still collecting hickory nuts here in TN on Dec. 23. Have found no shellbark YET… but I will keep looking.
TNHunter
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Lookin’ good! Squirrels have long ago pretty well taken all I know to look for; I’ve got what I’m gonna have.
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I’ve got about 10 five gallon buckets of shelled black walnuts from a tree in town and somebody else got a 30 gallon garbage bag of them un-hulled…and I’ve passed on 3 or 4 less convenient trees that have an average of that many nuts on the ground.
Picked up enough nuts like the one in the above picture in October to fill a gallon sized container and figured that enough.
I am stratifying a half dozen native chestnut seeds.
This week the starlings have been devouring the fruits on bush honeysuckle (and scattering them everywhere as they poop by the thousands).
Had a Fuji and an Arkansas Black this week…late to collect apples from a tree here in KY.
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never had any of these. ill have to trade with you next fall to get a sampler. 
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@steveb4 … yes … glad to do that.
I am going to continue my search for shagbark trees that are in easy foraging locations… found 6 so far… and that may be enough… but I love to get out and search for things like that… may find a dozen or more before next fall. Definately have my eye out for them now.
They are so good… they are going to be on my forage every year list for as long as I can walk and pick up nuts.
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I’m trying to ‘reclaim’ about half an acre that I had cleared 30 years ago but neglected to the point saplings are becoming forest trees. At least 4 trees the size of my arm are going to stay…a shagbark hickory, a female persimmon, a white oak, and a black walnut–and a black cherry that is 8 inch diameter and 30 feet to the first limb.
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My young ones are home for Christmas…
Got a prime rib roast in the oven headed for med rare … man that smell… and having just picked garden salads with that.
40 salads harvested so far. Some of my bok choi is bolting.
Merry Christmas to all !!!
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I’m still eating some Shin Li pears I have stored in the fridge. It’s a fine pear whose texture did not deteriorate at all after the past 2 months. It’s crisp, sweet, flavorful, and without grit. I remember buying some at a farmer’s market in San Francisco in March so it definitely keeps well.
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I had shin li make it till march last year with no damage. They store better than almost all the others I have. This year had some grit in them though.
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@TNHunter I admire your greens every time you post! I’ve always wanted to grow greens but can never seem to figure out how to get started… how much do I need to plant, when to plant, how to harvest continuously… I’ll have to get advice from you next summer and autumn! (Spring I’ll be too busy setting up the espaliers and garden beds.)
@alleyapples … thanks for nice comments on my greens.
I normally just work up a bed about 4 ft wide… and my rows are 10 ft long.
My usual mix of organic fertilizer… with a little extra blood meal for more N. And add 50 to 100 lbs compost to the top layer and rake it smooth.
I direct sow the seeds in 3 rows spaced out a foot or so. I have a 7 inch stirrup hoe and a 4 inch that I cultivate with.
Leaf lettuces… black seeded simpson and others spinach chard beets greens bok choi collards… usually do well here for a couple months in the spring and fall.
Good luck to you !
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Dec 28… 44 salads harvested so far.
Getting a bit weedy… I may have to pull that cover off and weed it good… if it will dry up enough.
Spinach is not producing nearly as well as leaf lettuce… and bok choy has bolted and flowering already (in late December)… it is about done.
Leaf lettuces are doing great and looks like they may continue a while…
I have something like 30 carrots left in that row.
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Having some daylily tubers for a snack before supper.
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