Sunday, July 29, 2012

Thoughts on Black Walnut Trees

I hate black walnut!  These black walnut trees are the bane of my existence!  Somebody get me a chainsaw, NOW!!!


Yeah, we all know I hate black walnut.  Black walnut toxicity drives me nuts, because it makes edible gardening so difficult. So many edible plants get killed off by the juglone secreted by the tree. 

Large branches fall from these black walnut trees.  Some of those branches are even tree sized.  Of course, when you consider that the trees are taller than a two-story house with a full attic, that's not too hard to imagine. 

But seriously... there has to be something good about the black walnut tree, right?

I mean, besides the lumber, which sells for a lot.

While selling off every last one of these trees sounds like a beautiful idea to me, we have to be realistic. I rent this house.  Getting rid of trees that I'm sure are way older than me would not only be cruel to the owners of the house, it'd be outright stupid.  So I can't do that.

This means I have to come up with other ideas.  I need to find black walnut uses.


I'm sure there are many.  After all, it's a walnut tree, and most people love walnuts.  This particular variety is native to the area, and has a more 'wild' quality to it.  One of black walnut's uses, therefore, is for baking.  I'll need to find recipes.

Small diy projects using the fallen black walnut branches may not be a bad idea, either. 

But what kind of projects?  How about a swing?  A basket?  And what else is there to do?  Do you have any ideas?


2 comments:

  1. I visited a woman's house where she used a 1-2" diameter branch from a tree as a curtain rod. It looked really cool.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a great idea. Simplicity at its finest!

      Delete