Mamabear came down Saturday and we went up river to my parents' acreage to see about finding ourselves some chestnuts. And yay! They're everywhere. These little buddies are not to be trifled with, though. You better be wearing some thick gloves if you want to play ball. Inside those mean-looking hulls are the loveliest, glossiest dark reddish-brown (or perhaps chestnut-colored!) nuts. Usually each hull contains three nuts -- most of the time there are one or two viable (sizeable) nuts and one that is rather shriveled, but I opened quite a few that actually had three sizeable buddies inside. We try to throw the "seeds" (the smaller/shriveled nuts) over the river bank or around the base of each tree so they'll sprout up on their own. (I've not boned-up on my chestnut vocab or knowledge yet, so please pardon my obvious novice status). A lot of the nuts had actually fallen out of their hulls right onto the ground and we gathered those as well. Looks like we may have beaten the squirrels and birds to the punch this year. Or perhaps it was such a bumper crop that there's still plenty to go around. And considering what an amazing year it's been for most every plant around, that just might be the case.
 This site seems to have some valuable chestnut info. They recommend slicing a small "X" in the skin of the chestnut and then roasting them at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or so (similar to what we've done for the past few years). Mamabear and Papabear have also teamed up in years past to make Smoked Chestnut Pasta. This year is no exception. Mamabear gathers the chestnuts, Papabear smokes them in his Traeger, Mamabear grinds them into Chestnut Flour and makes them into pasta (linguine and ravioli last year if I remember correctly). Yes, as a matter of fact, my parents are pretty awesome. Mamabear got the idea after reading this book.
Let us not forget the other amazing trees on my parents' property. There's the beautiful and gigantic Beech (about the same size as most of the Chestnut Trees -- which is to say at least as tall as a 10 story building) and also a rather large and friendly Hawthorn (I gathered some of its berries which are known to be good for medicinal uses). [I'd like to say I have a soft spot for the Beech Tree and in fact, I will; I've got a soft spot for the Beech Tree! The trunk and base of it just look so welcoming and happy. I also gathered a few of its nuts to see if I might start a few Beech Trees from seed.] There are also a few Filberts that I visited a month or so ago and harvested a small amount from, but had my timing wrong and didn't realize that I ought to have come back again sooner than this weekend. Next year maybe I'll get it right.
I'm rather in awe of the fact that there is food everywhere, whether we're actually cultivating it or not. Nature is so ridiculously miraculous.
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