We have 2 pecan trees in our yard and the nuts are finally starting to fall from the trees. We haven't have a bunch fall yet, but I have been picking up a little bucket full each day so the job isn't so big when they really start dropping. One of our trees has dropped almost all the leaves and is dropping several a day, while our other still has lots of green leaves and green hulls making the branches droop from the weight! That tree has small, but very sweet and tasty pecans!
I also picked up a bucketful at our family's farm this weekend. We are planning a big haunted hayride and were cutting limbs. There used to be a whole pecan orchard there, but now just a few trees remain.
And we have had to fight for these pecans! There have been a couple of squirrels on our back tree steadily cracking open the not-yet ripe ones and throwing them down on the ground. What a waste!
I get so mad at myself when I think about all the years I didn't use the pecans from our trees. The trees don't make every year, but the years that they have, we have either sold the pecans or let other people pick them when we could have used them. I already have several recipes tagged to try out with the pecans. Plus my kids just love to eat them, way healthier than a bag of chips or something.
I've also been adding the husks or bad nuts to my compost pile so that's a big plus as well. I will have to post one of the recipes and results when we use one.
