Its Nuts!!!!!!!

In SE Kansas and SW Missouri today,,,affectionatley know as 'Tornado Alley'...so keping a watching eye out!

Spend the day with JoeWilson and Drew Kimmell of Missouri Northern Pecan Growers - Growing Organic Pecans.  Having never seen a pecan tree it was a fantastic introduction. There are a mixture of Native Pecan groves with trees over 100 yrs old still producing quality pecans and planted grover on a 40 x 40 ft tree spacing. understories are either grazed with cattle or cut for hay.
Drews Grove is a nice old traditional Native site grazed by cattle;

Joe has a mix of 30 yr old plantations and old native groves in wetlands

The trees have male and female components and the catkin (male) parts are blown onto female receptrs for fruit set. Nuts alternate heave : light yields every other year and are harvested in Oct/Nov. understories grazed or cut for hay athen at harvest a mechanical tree shaker is usedto bring down a shower of nuts and sometimes branches!. nuts are then picked up with a tractor drawn picker.

At the plant they go through a process of washing, grading, shell cracking, re-wetting (to part shell from nut meat) and seperating then grading again, packing and chilling.....a very impressive. The nut is excellent, looks like a walnut but smaller but with a much smoother, buttery oily taste...yummy. The shell fragments are sold as garden mulch or for use as an abrasive - apparently excellent for this.

Joe Wilson is also starting a new enterprise with planting elderberries to be harvested and made into a health linctus aor drinking juice. he is also developing an eco-tourismhis farm.

All in all I had a long but very interesting day with Drew and Joe. then a drive to Sedelia for ano overnight stay. came through some areas damaged by tornados last week - like a bomb had gone off! what a mess. Tonight sun 29th Im off to a cattle fstival with a specaility - mountain oysters for tea (yep thats bull testicles!)....and then back to Columbia tomorow.