Those Darn Beechnut Trees

[caption id="attachment_520" align="alignleft" width="277" caption="Definitely Not Beechnuts"][/caption]

I really need to read a book about trees. We have lived on this farm for several years now. It is lined with trees on three sides. Since the day we moved in we really haven't given the trees a second thought. This past year however someone pointed out to me that along the front of the property there are some plum trees. At first I didn't believe them when they told me, until I went over one day and looked at the trees. Sure enough there were fruit on a few trees up there. As I was walking back I also found a section of raspberries. Seems to me that some one would have pointed that out to me when we bought the place, and not let us find out after we had lived here a few years. 

The side of the property has these tall trees that grow some strange looking nut on them. They start out green, and later turn black and fall off the tree. Not having read a book about trees, I thought these were beechnut trees. Someone had to have told me that since not having ever read that book, I couldn't tell you what a beechnut looked like. Each fall the darn trees would drop all these nuts to the ground, and I would drive over them with the lawn mower, cursing them under my breath for littering my lawn, and because they were little missiles when shot from the lawn mower. Those darn beechnut trees. 

The other day, I was outside and saw those darn nuts on the ground again, and it made me wonder if there were any use for beechnuts. Are they edible? There must be something I can do with them besides risk peoples lives when I run them over with the mower. So, I went online and was searching for them. Not too much was coming up, but eventually I found a picture of one. Ummm, that's not the same as what I have in my yard. Outside I go, dodging raindrops as I run to the trees, pick up a nut, and run back in. More searches. I searched for nut trees in the state of Georgia, and started going through the images until I found one that looked exactly like what I held in my hand. Can you believe it? I was holding a pecan. I LOVE PECANS! For over three years I have been driving over pecans with my truck, mulching them down with the mower and cussing them out without having a clue that they were pecans. It is so sad. I mean the row of nine very large pecan trees is only about 15 feet from my house and I didn't know it. 

I immediately went out and picked up a handful of them and brought them in to test. I got out the nut cracker and busted them up and ate them. They were delicious. Later I went out and got about 10 of them. I ate them and shared a little with L and T. Today, I went out with a bucket, and picked up about 300 of them. I am currently obsessed with pecans. I cleaned them, dried them in the oven, and started cracking them and extracting the meat. After about an hour I managed to crack about 25. Woo hoo! Talk about a slow process, but it is totally worth it. Anyone know any good recipes I can use pecans in? 

I am going to have to head over to the back side of the property and take a look at the trees over there. Who knows what trees I might find.