That's a nice harvest !
The way I get the husks off is by putting some latex gloves on and using a sharp knife to slice around them while they are still fresh and green. Then you can put the husks in a plastic bag and put them in the freezer.
Later on when you've got time, you can use them to dye fabric, especially wool, leather and other animal-derived materials. You don't even need a mordant, and it makes a lovely brown dye.
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Ok excellent info. It's pretty quick the way I do it and I don't have a need for dye really. Tho last year I tried to use it as a wood stain on pine... it wasn't that great a color really. Maybe too watered down, I don't know.
I do like your idea of freezing the husk for later tho.
How do you break them open when you're ready to eat 'em?
I've got a heavy-duty nutcracker to break them open. I mostly use it on hazelnuts (if the squirrels leave any for us...), because it can crack three or four at the same time. But with walnuts it'll only do one at a time, and they're always a bit fiddly. I have been known to just use a hammer sometimes 😁
I'll have to try to remember to keep the shells from next year's harvest, apparently they've got lots of uses, especially crushed up for burnishing and polishing.
Walnuts are one of my favourite trees, every part is useful one way or another, but the leaves and husks are high in juglone which can harm some other plants (a kind of natural weed killer, used by walnut trees to gain an edge), so I try to avoid composting them or using them as a mulch.
Yeah I've just used a hammer to crack them open. They are a pain in the ass tho, if you're not careful the meat will get pulverized lol. I never tried a heavy duty nut cracker, but this is only my second year doing it!
I knew about the natural weed killer it contains, so I throw everything out into the garbage for now. Thanks for the tip tho. We get free woodchips for mulch when we need it from tree service people.