Pickin' Pecans

This morning there was a strong wind blowing out of the north and it was chilly!  After I got the morning chores done with the animals, I dug some more sweet potatoes and then changed the oil in Laura's car since she's in from college this weekend.  We ate lunch and decided to go pick pecans.  We have one pecan tree in the backyard that produces big pecans, one pecan tree in the pasture that produces big pecans and two big pecan trees in the front yard that produce small pecans, but they are very oily and rich.

A few weeks ago, the pecans were looking like this:

About to split open and fall to the ground

With the windy weather last night and today, many of the pecans had fallen to the ground and are ready to be picked up.  You can see how they cover the ground:


Lots of pecans to pick up...

So we got busy and started picking pecans.  We have two, or maybe three methods.  The first is this one.  It is essentially a slinky with a handle that you roll over the pecans.  It is pretty old.  As you roll over them the pecans go inside the slinky and gradually fill it up.



This is a back saver

I roll it until it is full.  You can see below that I cant fit another pecan in it.



Full of pecans

Once it is full,  you simply open it up and the pecans fall in the bucket.  When it is empty you do it again.



Emptying the pecans

The second method is the newfangled slinky model, I suppose.  The wires are more rigid and you don't roll this one - you push down with the handle on top of the pecans and they fill up the device with pecans. 


New and improved model

This one fills up faster than the rollable one.



Filling up with lots of pecans

When it is full, you simply tilt it and pour all the pecans out.

Emptying pecans into the bucket

Oh, here is the third method.  I call it Patricia's Pecanmobile.  She sits down and rolls from place to place picking pecans and throwing them in the bucket.  You can see she has her hoodie on because it is cold!



Pecan Spinwheels!

Laura came out to give us company while we picked.  She brought her blanket and lounged in the sun.  The cat is checking her out.  

A cat nap?

Daisy, Rosie, and Magnolia had the same idea.  You can see Stryker grazing in the background.  The cows had visited me earlier while I was digging sweet potatoes.  I fed them a bunch of sweet potato vines.  Now they're just lazily chewing their cud.
 


Taking it easy

Tricia and I filled up a 5 gallon bucket in no time at all.


The first bucket of the day

We decided to have cup of coffee outside in the yard because it was so pretty out.  Laura peered out from beneath her blanket.  

Coffee Break

We filled up several buckets and bags for the day.  We'll leave these for a good while before shelling them to let them dry out.  One year we shelled them as soon as we picked them and they were moist and ended up mildewing.



Plentiful Pecans.

We'll continue to pick some more pecans over the next several days/weeks and we'll shell them over the winter.  I like to sit in front of the fireplace and shell pecans while watching college football.