Walnuts grow on large trees as green spheres. When ripe, the green outer fleshy shell has to dry and crack off or you have to peel it off. If the green shell gets moist inside before it falls off then the green shell turns a dark brown and becomes very moist. The oils from this will stain your fingers a brown color so sometimes you have to wear gloves when handling them. Once you get the green shell off then you are left with the hard brown shelled walnut like you see at the grocery store. You have to crack the brown shell off and pull the nut out to let it dry. When you pull the nut out it is still very moist and pliable and not ready to eat. Once the nuts are dried they are ready to eat or freeze for later use. I absolutely love the fresh walnuts from my grandma's trees! Damien and I helped pull nuts out of shells while Grandma cracked the shells open for us. And of course she sent us with a bag full of them. I absolutely love the walnuts from Grandma's trees!
Another funny thing happened that weekend too. We took our laundry to my grandma's as well and Damien decided he wanted to be helpful so he went inside and switched a load from the washer to the dryer and put a new load in the washer. I came downstairs a bit latter and Damien said, "I need to show you something." He walked me over to the washer and lifted the lid. I looked in and all I could see was pink. He had thrown our red rug into the washer with our towels and a pair of his underwear. The rug had never been washed before so the red dye turned everything a pink color. I just laughed. It was nice of Damien to try and help!
