Nuts and Trees

We have quite a few small pecan trees on the property.  There are 15 or so I think although none of them is very big.  Pecan trees can grow as tall as 140 feet although something in the range of 100 to 130 feet tall is much more common.  Mine are in the range of 15 to 20 feet tall.  All these trees were here when we moved in.  Actually there were many more of them here when we moved in but they were small and scraggly and we have removed them as they died.

I'm not sure how old these trees are but we have been here for over 9 years so they are at least that old.  It takes several years for pecan trees to mature enough to create pecans but we have only seen the occasional one or two so far.  This year, however, we have lots of nuts!

Pecans aren't actually nuts.  They are a drupe or a stone fruit like the peach or plum.  The classification doesn't make them any more fabulous in pecan pie or cinnamon/sugar roasted or just eaten raw.

We will be keeping an eye on the pecans and pick them when the husks spring open.  Then we may just pick up all the husks and use them as a dye.  Supposedly they don't dye quite as dark brown as black walnut husks but we will see how much color we can get out of them.  It should be a great fall dye season.