Gathering Hickory Nuts

We went into the forest. We saw moss.

We saw an old bird's nest.

We saw a maple tree.

We saw a hickory nut tree.

We gathered the green hulled nuts from the fallen leaves.

It helped to the rake the leaves away with a stick.

Sometimes it helped to turn upside-down.

The hickory nut hulls made our hands smell wonderful.

You have to peel the hulls off before you crack the nuts. We cracked them with a rock.

He liked the way they tasted.

Hickory nuts are hard to crack without smashing the meat. That's why you have never seen hickory nuts in the grocery store. For a good article about how to harvest, dry, and crack them, try this link to Mother Earth Magazine:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1980-09-01/Hickory-Nuts-The-Inside-Story.aspx