We had a very good crop this year! Lots of nuts from lots of trees. I think the hot pepper spray is working its magic on the squirrels.
On the last post I talked about how to tell if the nuts are ready to be picked. Here is an example showing pushing on them with your thumb and seeing if they roll out. (I can't get the pictures side-by-side, if you know how, let me know)
These nuts are ready to be picked!
We harvested hazelnuts until about mid-September. There is such a wide range of genetic diversity for the different hybrids that they all ripen at different times. If we just had one or two of all the same kind then we would only have to harvest them for a week and then we would be done!
Dan did most of the hazelnut picking, with me coming out to help on a couple weekends. I estimate that he had over 200 (small paper) bags, each from a different tree.
Here are some pictures of the hazelnut picking process.
Dan pulling the branches of the hazelnut down to a reachable height.
Searching the branches for nuts. You have to look really carefully at each branch because they will really blend in.
Found one!
A couple of bags full of nice looking hazelnuts
Here is the fancy hazelnut picking cart with all the essentials: Bags, notebooks, label supplies, water for the pickers...
Dan showing off one of the hazelnuts he's working on picking.
The next post I'll talk about the best part of the hazelnut growing process... the taste-testing!
No comments:
Post a Comment