I started the orchard at the northern end of my one acre homestead in 2009 with the idea of having a supply of Black Walnut wood for carving. This was more a theoretical notion than a practical one because given the slow growth rate of walnut and my advancing age, I knew it was unlikely I would use any of the new trees in the orchard. And I can't bring myself to cut down either of the two large trees on the creek bank. Heathen that I am, it seems somehow sacrilegious to me, to cut down a healthy Black Walnut tree, growing on the bank of its namesake, Walnut Creek. Perhaps the orchard was started to replace the walnut trees I've used over the years, and maybe to provide carving stock for the next woodcarver.

Impromptu walnut processing center.    (+)    

It seems odd to me now that I never considered harvesting the nuts until several years after the orchard was underway because now it's a major part of the project. That's especially true this year (2025) when both big trees are putting out and a number of the new trees are coming into their own. First Tree, was so laden with fruit that some branches bent to the ground. Of the 2000 fresh walnuts I hulled this season, I estimate that a third came from that tree, and because I decided to stop at 2000, at least a hundred were left underneath for the squirrels. I'm certainly glad now that I spotted First Tree as a sapling sixteen years ago and didn't cut it off. For all of the seventeenth year of the orchard, I will have Black Walnuts to eat.