NUTS! My recommended nut trees for a cold hardy permaculture food forest

Nut trees I'm growing:
- Hazelnuts
- Filberts
- Hazelberts
- Walnut (black, Carpathian)
- Butternut
- Buartnut
- Hickory
- Cold hardy almond
- Cold hardy pecan (may have died this winter)
- Heartnut
- Oak (acorn)
- Chestnut (various, mostly seedlings, Eng/Eu mix to try to restore them - likely to expand this in the future, especially in wilder areas)
Am I forgetting some? Possibly...
Which are my favorites?
It may change over the years, because right now only some of those are producing, but already I have some advice to give on what you SHOULD be growing, and what you may want to grow more selectively.
This is likely my last video before Christmas. Whatever your religion, holiday that you celebrate, I hope you are having a wonderful time with friends and family, and are being safe and secure.
Have a great end to 2022, and a wonderful start to 2023. Start planning that food forest, or where you are going to expand it!
NEVER STOP PLANTING!
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[@maryyett4637]

The more difficult to crack nuts ( blk walnuts, the hickories,etc) can be prepared using a simple ancient native method. It's a way of making nut milk that does not involve tediously picking out the nut meat pieces. Hull the nut, then place the intact nuts into a bag made out of strong fabric( feed bag, etc,), then slowly run over the bag with a car several times until all the nuts are at least a little cracked. Place the cracked nuts into a large pot and add water to cover. Cook for a long time( on top of a wood stove,etc). After awhile, the oil from the nuts will be released and will float to the top and can be collected with a spoon. This will be a delicious and super healthy oil. Some pieces of pure nut meat may also float around and could be collected, but this step is skipped by most people. The real, important food produced is the delicious nut milk. Strain out the shell and nut meat fragments and enjoy this healthy and awesome treat!! Drink it straight warm or cold, make soup or gravy,bake with it ,etc. Freeze any extra for later. The shell/ nut fragments are relished by chickens, ducks, pigs,etc , or they can just be composted. At first glance this method may seem wastful,but consider how easy it is to process all those nuts now going to waste while producing truely yummy and healthy food and you will see that the first inhabitants of this land knew what they were doing.

[@waroark1]

Great video! I live in the Ozark mountains of northern Arkansas. I highly recommend to anyone that wants to establish nut trees to join the Ozark Chinquapin Foundation. They have been working diligently for years to reestablish the Ozark Chinquapin tree to it's original place in our habitat. It was almost wiped out by the Chinese Chestnut blyte that decimated the Chestnut trees in the eastern United States. By locating surviving trees that had a natural resistance to the blyte, and cross pollinating them they have acquired trees that are very resistant to the blyte and are working hard to reestablish this very nutritious and tasty nut that once dominated this ecosystem. It was a major food source for the wildlife and they love it. It's said that it has the taste of a sweet almond. I can't wait until mine begin to produce. Like the hazelnut they generally begin to produce nuts in about 3 or 4 years. Good luck getting them before the critters, just like your hazelnut tree you better be on your toes ready or else the wildlife will get them all.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

❤️

[@Siry2000]

If you soak the black walnuts in water for 24 hours before you crack them, they break easier, don't explode and you get much larger pieces. Using this method and my grandpa's goody getter (great machine!) I've been able to get full halves out cleanly. The shells don't explode either, so no safety glasses needed. Not worth it for the calories, but they make english walnuts seem bland by comparison...so much flavor in there.

[@EveEmshwiller]

That "Grandpa's Goody Getter" is amazing!

[@mayb.wright509]

Hearing/reading all this about black walnuts makes me respect wildlife even more. I've never eaten one, but I always see shredded shells that the squirrels leave behind on rocks and logs. Those widdle teeth and jaws have got to be majorly tough. 🦫🐿 🙂

[@SolutionsWithin]

I have black walnut extract as one of my “remedies” I keep on hand for when any of my household start getting sick with any cold, flu, etc. works excellent. Also use olive leaf extract (liquid) and oregano oil. Can kill any contagious illness if you start hitting it daily right at the 1st signs.

[@SolutionsWithin]

Oh and they also (by taking orally) bladder infection, yeast infection, or skin infections.

[@SolutionsWithin]

But with skin infections you can also apply rosemary oil directly on the skin. Clears up anything.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

This one was supposed to go up last night, but we've been without power on/off for 2 days now. I finally was able to get it uploaded. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, no matter what you celebrate. 🥰

[@kcoker9189]

Happy holidays too to you and your family, thank you for all the work you put into this channel, it's going to bless so many lives in such a meaningful way ❤️ The best to you and yours!

[@kylebell7879]

Why were you out of power?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Was out of power from that big winter storm that impacted a lot of North America.

[@andrewp3636]

I'm not really sure why people grow black walnuts. English walnuts are much easier to open and the tree leaves the soil very rich while the black walnut tends to stop things growing.

[@SAROXBAND]

We had been trying to grow almond trees with no success. They would always dry up. Out of the blue they started to appear everywhere. Well we just found out our neighbor has an almond forest about 2 acres away from our land. Right next to the river between bamboos. And the birds must be dropping the seeds everywhere. Way to demonstrate your problem is your solution! We did not have a lack of almond trees we had a lack of birds lol Merry Christmas!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

haha!

[@PaleGhost69]

The only nuts I've found in my area are the locals.

[@rocdajacable]

Well I'm in New York guess what ...

[@alexriddles492]

I came to the realization that there was no protein in my food forest several years ago. I have been waiting for a video like this for a long time.

[@kcoker9189]

You can do mushrooms too! They're easier than most people realize, I make mushroom grow kits and put old bags in our backyard on our wood chips. We get so many mushrooms when it rains!

[@alexriddles492]

@@kcoker9189 I tried mushrooms. But, by then I had chickens for the eggs and "fertilizer". The chickens always seemed to get to the mushrooms before I did.

[@tcfarms7645]

Thank you for your video and honest chatting about food forests!

[@gioknows]

Great video, Sir. Cheers from Ottawa 🍁

[@Bassfuke]

Absolutely love the video! I noticed that on the scientific name of the heartnut you left out the "var. cordiformis" (meaning heart shaped), which is quite important if you want to have heart shaped japanese walnuts, instead of the wild round shape that is much more tough to crack. So the entire name is Juglans ailantifolia var. cordiformis. Hoping to see the actual trees on your videos too and cultivar names :) .

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Thanks!!

[@icefire20001]

I would also really like to hear cultivar names whenever possible

[@kastironwoman6009]

Me too. Full Scientific names are super important- what is called a heart nut in one part of the country can end up being something completely different in another part of the country- and you could end up with something poisonous. Posting the scientific names as you talk is perfect- but post it at the top of the screen, not the bottom, because when I pause the video, the control bar covers the words.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Paw paw is a great example of this. It's one thing here, and a completely different plant in South America. Not even remotely related.

[@gregoryhatt6475]

I would second the critters hammering the hazelnuts, FIRSTHAND! Everything in the woods comes in to gobble them up the millisecond they ripen. Certainly easy and enjoyable to grow though. beautiful, rugged shrubs.

[@StayPrimal]

Just found your channel ! Extremely inspiring ! I'm from Quebec and started 2 years ago my compost stations and organic garden. Last year I started building a food forest around my garden. This project changed my life literally. I was depressed and anxious, my life was going no where. It probably saved my life. Your channel will help me take important decisions to come in the next few years where i'm slowly building my permaculture. Thank you sir!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I wish I could describe how much this has changed my life also. You did a pretty good job, and I just echo everything you said.

[@kerryl4031]

The heart nuts look interesting. Planted hazels about 4 years ago, they are just beginning to look like they might perform this year. Luckily there are some hazels in the hedging already. We stopped trimming and intend to do a 3 year rotation for the wildlife. We also inherited a big - huge, even - walnut tree. It must be well over 70 years old and has a big trunk. It definitely isn't a black walnut as they are easy to crack. We found that it goes in cycles like the apples - one year fantastic, the next sparse. This year should have been a good one, but we had awful wet and wild weather when the catkins formed. We still had some though, and more than I expected, so it wasn't completely barren. I don't think the squirrels were around because I collected a lot off the ground too. Anyway thank you :D

[@DK6060]

I'm with you on ease of harvest: I have two mature black walnut trees flanking my property, but the shells are such nuisance that I prefer to see the chubby squirrels use them all. I did plant hazelnuts last year, but production is a few years off.

[@grantsilzer4460]

Been watching you for years, went crazy last summer with fruit/berry plants last y

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

yeah 😀

[@pascalxus]

excellent point about growing nuts easy to open.

[@rickershomesteadahobbyfarm3291]

I have a ton of wild hockey trees growing all over my property. A couple of my trees are pretty old. Most of them don’t really taste that great though. They are also very hard to crack. I bought a heavy duty nut cracker and they will explode too lol. I will keep a small bowl of them for fresh eating but they take entirely too long to get the nuts out of the shells. I am thinking about getting one or two improved varieties to plant next to my older trees.

[@daniellapain1576]

If you like pistachio nuts then collect Maple Samara, (Those helicopter seeds ) and peel them and roast them with salt. They have a similar taste.

[@kastironwoman6009]

I mentioned this in a reply to Bassfuke: Full Scientific names are super important- what is called a heart nut in one part of the country can end up being something completely different in another part of the country- and you could end up with something poisonous. Posting the scientific names as you talk is perfect- but post it at the top of the screen, not the bottom, because when I pause the video, the control bar covers the words.Thanks again for great videos, even if they were filmed in the garage!!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

haha! Thankfully most videos have better scenery. I'm itching for spring so badly!

[@yasminnilima2366]

For me the answer was rabbits, chickens and pigs. Rabbitdun is a cold dung and can be used directly under the plants. Pigdung is for trees and schrubs . Chickendung I mostly use for warmcompost starter with rabbitdung and straw. It has really kicked of here with the animals. They eat a lot of the leftovers from the garden. And give back with manure. I like to follow you. Canada and Sweden are much alike. We can grow more or less the same plants. On my 5 arcres there have been planted about a 1000 trees and about the same, 1000 schrubs in the last 5 years. Much is still very small but one can slowly see it has become a garden out of the deforestation area that was here. Enjoy the season! Sending a lot of love from Sweden and hopes of a good season 2023 in your garden. Liked your video of the pond very much! I have a lot of nuts here. Hope to save a lot in the future for both me and the pigs!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Good luck! I'm hoping as our lives settle down a bit with the kids getting older that we can get different animals here also.

[@ninemoonplanet]

Oddly enough I had heard of First Nations people using acorns for food. So this year I collected quite a few. They need to be dried, then repeatedly soaked to remove the tannins (tannins are bitter) and ground, dried. I am just about to finish the rounds (several, 5-8 times, over 2-3 weeks) and dry the acorn "meal". Walnut are volunteered by the squirrels, so I have more than I want. 😄 Thank you for letting me know these nuts can store for years, that make my life easier now.

[@ninemoonplanet]

I know there's someone in Quebec that has Hecans, a cross between hickory and pecan. Heartnuts I haven't heard of or seen, but they should grow fairly well on the wet coast. Will have to find a supplier or the nuts and start them. Hazelnuts are definitely good, but it's a race to get them before the squirrels and crows get them.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Interesting! Hecans!

[@annburge291]

The Koreans make a type of tofu from acorns. They might inspire you with some recipes

[@moranmike36]

Great video! Thanks

[@paulgutches5253]

It’s interesting that you can grow nuts that far north. Any nut really. I was under the impression they needed long summers and lots of heat hours to mature. . Especially pecan.

[@banksarenotyourfriends]

Merry Christmas Keith, all the best for 2023 :)

[@CreatingCabinLife]

Thank you for this wonderful information, it made my choices so much easier!

[@bassoonrckr]

I have foraged some hickory nuts and they are also very hard to crack/separate the nut from the shell. Heart nuts look interesting!

[@charlesbale8376]

Thank you for sharing, enjoyed the video, and appreciated the information.

[@humblebee8028]

Thank you for the good advice. I have some hazelnut bushes but the same - squirrels and blue jays get them before I do.

[@basilsmith62]

Вселенная вам подсказывает что садите больше фундука, или вам не стоит его кушать, а лучше кормить птиц и белок. Они же ваши безоплатные работники;) В любом случае садите орехоплодные кусты и деревья. Успехов!

[@AngryPeasants]

Don't use galvanized nails around food! ... Thanks for this, I will look into heartnuts. I have wild hazelnut trees and have yet to get a nut! Critters always beat me to them.

[@cjmcadams4817]

Thank you so much for this video. I have been trying to find a good nut for zone 4

[@jessegreywolf]

Another great video. Thanks for the well presented information

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Thanks for watching!

[@AlBGood]

Merry Christmas to you and your lovely family. Carmen and Al.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

You two as well! 😀

[@southsidecarly7427]

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄Wishing you and your family a Very Merry Christmas !🎄🎄🎄🎄Stay warm and well

[@gardeningismyhobby]

Thanks for the video, I have an idea now what kind of tree that I am going to plant to

[@keithnotley2440]

Keith, wishing you and your family all the best for your precious time together! Thank you for your vids that continue to enlighten our permaculture community around the world! 🙏🥰 🍀

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Thanks Keith 😊 You too

[@CRHall-ud9mq]

Thanks! 🙂 I'm super excited to learn of hardnuts, and that pecans also are cold hardy!

[@thehazelnutspread]

I've never even HEARD of a heart nut. Another plant to go on my order list.........

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Love it!

[@Guzmanb]

good for you!

[@acdcacres]

Thanks for this video! I'll have to check out the heart nuts. We live in a forest and have loads of wild hazelnuts and acorns- I tried harvesting a few times, but was always a little late and they were wormy, so we gave them to the pigs.

[@sbffsbrarbrr]

This wasn't meant to be funny but I found it so 😅. No way could I grow any kind of nuts. I have regular squirrel visitors and can't even grow a sun flower, which is a shame because I really like them. But did you check out Grandpa's Goody Getter? It's quite a piece of equipment for cracking black walnuts. He also indicated that the nuts need to be soaked for a few days (after they have originally dried completely) in order to soften up the shell and the meat. In all honesty, this is way too much work. No wonder even the squirrels did not like these much. People in my area post them for free on Facebook in the fall and I know why! Merry and Happy Holidays to you and your family. Stay warm!

[@johnsheppard4428]

You are leaving them for the squirrels. They won't take the seeds unless they are ready and ripe... harvest them earlier. There are squirrels everywhere. Literally everywhere. On every continent but Antarctica. People have had to harvest their seeds and nuts before critters. We cut our sunflower heads down before they are eaten, then dry them hanging indoors. Problem solved. Harvest your nuts before they are eaten. Problem solved. If you're leaving the nuts on the tree they will get eaten.

[@noonenaruto2152]

Merry Xmas! I just found your channel in the last two weeks. Very inspiring! I am also looking to build my own in south Ontario zone 5. I love all the content you have❤

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Thanks! and good luck! I'm here if you run into snags and have questions.

[@lynsmith2698]

I am watching this Christmas morning….a little peace before the busy starts. Hahaha great video. We have tons of wild hazelnuts here but this is something I don’t have yet in my garden. I will have to do s9me research and see what. I find for our zone. (3] thanks so much, Merry Christmas ❄️🇨🇦❄️

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

You too!

[@jennifer6198]

Nuts are great for us. I've been buying organic walnuts + organic almond butter when on sale. We have a massive walnut tree at work but the squirrels are all over them.

[@RoseWoodruff]

WOW! Safety Goggles! 😁

[@RoseWoodruff]

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!

[@disbemetube]

I gathered a significant amount of nuts this year for the first time. Black walnuts have captured my attention because they're delish and spread like weeds in the landscape. There's a remarkable number of overlooked videos on KZbin where people share their tips on cracking them. I started out thinking I'd need a lot of force to crack the shells, and gravitated towards a lever-type cracker, but had results similar to yours. The best combo I've come across uses a simple nut-cracker that's basically a metal triangle with an adjustable screw-like cracker thing, kinda like a vice. I wrap my left hand around the walnut in the tiny vice while tightening with my right, so it cracks less dramatically, and all the fragments stay in my hand. Whatever nut meat is still stuck in shell can be released with wire snips. Still fairly tedious but worth it for the flavour. Shagbark hickory may take a long time to produce (I am privileged to live among so many mature trees) but they produce prolific crops of delicious, albeit fairly small nuts, that require very little processing compared to something like the black walnut.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

A lot of people are saying to soak them for a few hours first. I may try that next time.

[@TD-nf1qo]

Merry Christmas! My bf's grandfather had walnut trees. During holidays, he would put out bowls of nuts with a big, old-school heavy C-Clamp. The trick was to put the bar between your legs while sitting on their couch. I always had a good laugh, but it really did work. As a side note about nuts - recently found out my selenium levels were high. Use caution in growing certain nuts - Brazil nuts, for example have an insanely high level of selenium. Moderation with anything is key, but thought I'd throw that out there! Can't wait to see what you & your family have in store for the new year!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Those were likely English/Carpathian walnuts, and not black walnuts. Black are WAY harder.

[@jdvanallen2907]

Great points about ease of harvest. I figure that the korean pine nut is worth it to a certain point so I have planted some.They are not a nut I’d be eating out of hand on a daily basis but the effort involved in harvesting enough for a large amount of pesto or for additions to a nettle risotto is reasonable to me. Those heart nuts crack beautifully. I’ll be ordering seed stock for that! I have a handful of hazelnut bushes and have 500 seed nuts that are stratifying now. The northern pecans are ones that I’m trying but the harvest is a lonnnnng way off. I’m also growing chestnuts as a perennial starch. Butternuts are being grown primarily for ecological reasons. The land I lease has lots of hickory so I’m harvesting some of those. They have been pretty easy to process.

[@craigmetcalfe1749]

Merry Christmas to you and yours Keith! Christmas in Australia usually starts with a platter of nuts (usually mixed...and not to be confused with the ones you may have worked with in the past)! Just today I harvested either the first of this season's Macadamia nut (the tallest and oldest tree in my food forest) or the last of last season's. I have found there are many options that permies use when choosing their nut trees, if I plant another one, it may be either almond, cashew, pistachio or brazil nut. I have found out (the hard way) that oil made from nuts does not really have a great shelf life and tends to go rancid in my subtropical climate very quickly (i.e. within a month). The health benefits of nuts (a handful a day) is amazing and should be enough inspiration to overcome the aforementioned shortcoming. Nuts can be converted to a milk in a blender by adding water, they can be roasted with spices, and like those near and dear to your humble correspondent...may be stored in a lacquered box on the dresser of your partner's side of the chambre. No wonder my investing mentor says I lake the testicular fortitude for day trading. Cheers and thank your mother for the ducks!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I should try to make some heartnut milk... maybe a fun project in the next few days 😀

[@blickch]

Great vid Keith. For some reason I am having a problem getting my hazelnuts to fruit but I am holding out hope for next year..... I have all of the nuts your mentioned at my place but none are in production yet. Something I did note though was acorns. After my wife went to Corsica and noted that she could eat pastries all over the island because they were made with acorn flour(gf) I researched some varieties that would work well in our area. I planted a swamp white oak and a burr oak for the nut size and the comparatively low level of tannins in them. Time will tell if that was a good call.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Oaks are also fantastic nature trees. Not just the nut, but the entire plant supports many hundreds of insects. At the very very very worst, you will give wildlife a nice boost.

[@SgtScourge]

After a while of winter avoidance of my favorite channel, I come back and immediately have something new and exciting to get in the ground and wait 5 years for 😮

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

haha!

[@realstatistician]

Some of these nut trees are even longer!

[@somguy728]

Try putting the walnuts in a line and running the Tesla over them. That's how crows open them.

[@kathleenebsen2659]

I use my husband’s drill press to crack black walnuts. I grow almonds, filberts and hazelnuts, pecan, and hickory nuts. I process acorns into a lovely flour. Great for making pancakes. Ginkgo Nikons produced a nutlike seed in a foul smelling fruit. I gather the unbroken fruit with gloves as it can cause dermatitis. I clean the nuts and wash them in diluted bleach. The nuts and then baked and frozen. They are delicious and traditionally used in Asian stir fry. I also am trying witch hazel. The nut like seeds are supposed to taste like pistachios. I’m growing some pistachio seedlings in my greenhouse here in zone 6. There are pistachio varieties originating in Uzbekistan that are supposed to be cold hardy to zone 5(?). I’d love to try them when and if they become available.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

At first I though using bleach was dangerous, but apparently it's safe as long as the nuts don't have holes in them. Do you float-test each nut first, to make sure the bleach can't get to the nut?

[@kathleenebsen2659]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy because the fruit portion is removed from the nut by hand, I inspect each one. I forgot to say that I wash the nuts in soapy water to remove fruit residue. Empty shells would float. Then I bleach and dry.

[@kathleenebsen2659]

More info: Ginkgo nuts are sold in Asian markets as “white nuts”. Try them. I think they are rich and delicious. Must be cooked. Powerful medicinal. Limit to eat 10 per day. Wonderful tea from leaves. Being used as Alzheimer’s treatment. Need both male and female trees. Wind pollination. Takes 20 years to determine sex of tree. Otherwise take cuttings of known trees. Wear rubber gloves when handling the fleshy covering of the nuts. Can cause dermatitis. The foul smell of the flesh is thought to have been an attractant to carrion eating dinosaurs who spread the seed. I put the fruit into a bucket of soapy water. I remove the flesh and drop the cleaned seed into another becket of soapy water. Then drain and cover nuts with diluted bleach. Soak an hour. Dehydrate the nuts in a dehydrator or on a rack. I freeze the prepared nuts. 🥲☀️

[@krimmer66]

Great video, I will be getting some pecan trees next year.. I have a wet spot in spring that I think they will love. I've also collected some Shagbark hickory nuts, sprouted and planted about 10 saplings along the river, mixed in with some Korean pines, which are the larger of the pine nut cones. Even the 'pig nut hickory' sorry I don't remember it's real name, is a good nut for making flour for a native style bread. Best wishes for the new year!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

You too 😀

[@shahedayeasmeen8089]

I bought a hazelnut tree and waiting for shipment. Thank you for this video.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Make sure to get a couple for pollination, and plant them in blocks, not rows. They are wind pollinated, so you'll get better fruit set if they are clumped together a bit.

[@shahedayeasmeen8089]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Thank you for the information. I will buy few more and plant them in blocks.

[@bobburkinshaw9408]

Helpful video. And interesting timing! I just ordered a few days ago a cold hardy almond tree (Javid's Iranian semi-dwarf). Our climate in the southern part of Prince Edward County is a little warmer than yours (6a), so I hope that it does well. But you have me interested in the Heart Nuts. Back to the online catalogues! New Years' blessings to you and your family.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

LOL 😆 You too ❤️

[@millennialhmong7121]

Im thrill and going nuts!!!!!!! Im gonna try to get some nut trees😍

[@davejones4269]

I have a very productive hazelnut (cobnut) tree it’s not very large produces masses of nights every year. And every year I wait patiently observing them every day as I get larger and larger closer to ripening. Then every year there I think they must be ready now I go out on the tree will have been stripped by those darned squirrels.. dang … daab nabbit! Now I could cover the tree with some kind of met I guess but I’ve been recommended just to plan more hazelnut trees I wish I thought of this 10 years ago!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

LOL truth!

[@Double0pi]

I've had the same experience with black walnuts. Never grew them, but had a friend who did, and we stopped taking the free nuts she offered because they were so darn hard to crack. I have two hazelnuts in my yard (about 3 yo) but, like you said, the squirrels keep getting to them.

[@Double0pi]

@@ediblelandscaping1504 I think mine started flowering about year 2, though of course it depends how big of a slip you start with. Greenhouse is on my wishlist, though I doubt I have the space for one that will actually fit filberts.

[@branchingoutpermaculturewi4766]

i have many shagbark hickory trees and black walnut. i agree on the toughness the black walnut has and i find it is not worth collecting and processing. around here they will pay about 2.50 a bushel. the hickory though you have to watch out for the weevil. im growing pecans that should grow in zone 6-7 and im in zone 6b. we will see how that works out. i also have 100 edible chestnut seeds stratifying. i have a few hazel nuts as well and plan to grow more. i have no heart nuts but maybe in the future. cheers keith great video as always

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Good luck!

[@milipwn]

if you have the room them consider castanea tree's we have them on the horse field, they are almost no maintenance apart from when they are young, they grow immense shade for your animals in high summer and produce alot of biomass from the bolsters surounding the nuts, slugs stay ouf of your compost if you add them bolsters edit: for wallnuts i always just use my foot, light pressure till it cracks and onto the next nut, just throw them all on the ground or leave a tile or 2 next to your wallnut tree

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I tried getting some established, but they kept getting chestnut blight. I may try again in the future, but so far, they look okay until year 2 or so, then they just die.

[@ecocentrichomestead6783]

I use Vise Grips to crack nuts. Set the opening to the space that just cracks the nut. I'm just starting crowing nut trees now. I have beaked Hazelnuts in stratifying now.

[@ziptiefighter]

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll add that [shagbark] hickory are also more of a pain than they're worth, like black walnut...super hard and quite a hassle to pick out the good pieces. That said, I am growing some shagbark hickory and northern red oak from seed. So hopefully in several years they'll be something to look at. I'm fine with providing habitat and a food source for wildlife.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Akiva Silver of Twisted Tree farm (I really dig that guy) is huge on Shagbark Hickory. I planted all ours because his passion is infectious. I haven't had a nut grow yet though. Sad to hear that they may fall under black walnut category of more Hassel than they are worth. I will withhold reservation for now. Thanks for commenting. 😀

[@icefire20001]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy the twisted tree farm website says the following: "Hickory nuts deserve far more attention than they receive. The reason they are not more widely known and eaten in the world is because they are difficult to shell. There are a couple ways to not let that stop you from enjoying hickory nuts. The first method is 'smash and boil', nuts and shells together. After a while, a lot of the nut meat will rise to the surface and the shells will sink. Drink the broth and eat the nuts. Another method is to select trees that crack out easier and use a good hard shell nut cracker (The Master Nut Cracker is our favorite)."

[@louise2209]

I have two filberts and an almond, but both aren’t very old, so I need to wait a bit. The walnut I bought (which wasn’t a black variety, but I forget what type it was) died during the year before even putting out a leaf despite everything I tried to do to recover it. Bad luck on my part mostly. I was interested in trying a heart nut, you’ve confirmed my decision so thank you x

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

😀

[@BlackJesus8463]

thanks

[@awakenacres]

I love black walnuts! If only they were easier to crack. There must be a special nut cracker for black walnuts out there. I have 2 mature hazelnut bushes. For 2 years I didn’t have any problem with chipmunks getting them. Then this year the chipmunks found them. They got all the nuts within 2 days. They were still green! My plan is to put a cage around them next year. I’m definitely interested in experimenting with different nut varieties so thank you for this video!💕🌰

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Lots of people in the comments saying to soak them for a few hours in water first. I may give that a try.

[@regenerationtrust5779]

Use a roller on the black walnuts over concrete and feed the chaff to the chooks, great food for them and reduces grains

[@stevenothanks7379]

It's Merry Christmas.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Merry Christmas

[@Growinginontario]

If you vacuum seal nuts in mason jars, they will stay fresh much longer. We vacuum seal almonds,cashews and other nuts which we buy in bulk. I’m looking forward to harvesting our own heart nuts one day,which we planted last year.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Just have to keep the teenage boys off them. They are the biggest thing for us that prevents long term storage from happening LOL 😆 😂 😅

[@annburge291]

Hope you all enjoy the festivities and have a moment to relax. I crack and freeze my pecans while watching Permaculture Legacy Videos. I find that the pecans last a year in their shells before they become over-dried and rancid in desert conditions. Last year's pecans go to the chickens because I am very fussy about what the pecans taste like. I definitely prefer pecans that sun ripened on the tree and have fallen to the ground than the ones that have been mechanically vibrated off the trees like what happens nearby in the commercial orchards. We use a tool that is a large spring curl on a stick to help collect the nuts. I'm visiting my daughter's family in Zimbabwe. I've left my husband picking up the last third of the pecan harvest. I'm sure the dogs have eaten themselves silly.

[@MacAisling]

I have a 1 acre lot in WV and as I get closer to retirement, I’ve been thinking about putting in a variety of fruit and nut trees, a process I have finally started this fall. The nuts I’m trying to start from seed in tree pots with the intent of planting in the yard in the fall. I’ve planted black walnuts (found by the side of the road), chestnuts, and hazelnuts. As I want a couple hedges of hazels, I bought a 4 lb bag of raw nuts. While I’ve planted enough in pots to start my hedges, I have a whole lot left over, so I am going to try just pressing them into the unprepared ground as I mulch the areas I want the hedges. I figure it can’t hurt and might save me some effort later.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Yeah, when in doubt just push nuts into the ground. If they weren't roasted they might germinate.

[@benwest9004]

Black walnut hybrids. They will cross with heartnuts and other thinner shelled walnut species.

[@johnowens5342]

Chestnuts are my main producers. We make chestnut bread (3 parts chestnut 1 part flour), Chestnut cornbread (50/50 nuts to corn) and my wife is from Mexico so we make chestnut nut tortillas just like a handmade corn tortilla but taste better. I also have Mark shepherd's hazelnuts planted between my fruit trees but they are not in production yet. As my permaculture system matures I plan to replace 100% of wheat products in my diet with homegrown nuts. Great video, thanks

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Awesome. How much work is it to get the tannins out of them? Do you have to boil them for a few hours?

[@johnowens5342]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy no problems with tannins I boil them for about 7 minutes to make the shell easy to get off before grinding. Tannins should make it bitter and they are slightly sweeter than corn so I never thought about tannins. It is a very useful nut, 48 trees will produce enough calories for a family of 4 people. The cultivar I have is Dunstan which is a cross between American and Chinese. I have a 3 acre permaculture site in North Carolina so our climate is very different but I have enjoyed your videos. Thank you for producing great content.

[@cherylcarlson3315]

Was hoping to hear about chestnuts... will look into heartnuts.. trying to work in the space I have is difficult

[@Rad_B_OLand]

The black walnut does double duty for survival as the shell can be burned in a pellet stove.

[@jeffcauhape6880]

Save the nut shells. If you put the nut shells in a rock polisher with some metal ball bearings, you can grind them down to use as an abrasive powder to use in a "sand blaster". Powdered nut shell is a great abrasive for some delicate cleaning work.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

That's awesome! I can totally see that, they are so hard! Now that you mention it, I'm curious what their Rockwell hardness number would be.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Wouldn't you know it, that number is out there! The Rockwell hardness number of black walnut shells is 91. On Mohs scale they are 3.5. They are hard enough to polish metal, carbon Fibre and concrete!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Digging deeper into this... some research is being done making epoxy resins with crushed walnut shells added in. The ultimate tensile strength, modulus of elasticity all decreased while under tension, but nearly doubled while under compression, and hardness values doubled, when using between 10 and 25% by weight crushed walnut shells in the epoxy. So they make the epoxy worse under tension, but much stronger in compression and impact. Love how materials science is looking at addition of natural materials into epoxies and resins.

[@jeffcauhape6880]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy My thinking is that if you can sell the crushed shells, the money you recover could make the effort worthwhile. You will probably need to pass the crushed shell through sieves so that it's of uniform size. I don't know what those sizes would be, but the info is probably available somewhere.

[@jeffcauhape6880]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Many years ago the family that owned the Eggo Waffle company were family friends. One day Mr. Dorsey was complaining to my father about the time he was having to spend with wire brushes to clean the waffle irons of waffle debris. My father suggested the he get rice hulls from the Central Valley, and use them in a sand blaster to clean the irons. It worked wonderfully. Mr. Dorsey was so happy that he kept us supplied with waffles. When I was growing up, I thought it was normal to have a freezer in the garage that had a never ending supply of waffles.

[@AMKB01]

We are in zone 3, so not a lot of nuts will grow here. We did plant some Korean pine this past spring, that are hardy to our zone. There are a type of hazelnut that is native to the area, but I haven't seen any in years. Black walnut will grow here, but our season isn't long enough for the nuts to reach maturity. I'd been looking at heartnut as something that will grow here, so I really appreciate hearing your experience - and that you actually enjoy their taste! Buarnut is another one that is supposed to be hardy enough for our area, and I'm hoping to get some of those, too!

[@icefire20001]

I'm in zone 4, and I haven't been able to find any Heartnuts that are more cold hardy than zone 5. Buartnuts only seem to be rated down to zone 4. If you've found zone 3 Heartnuts or buartnuts then please share the variety or vendor! Thank you!

[@AMKB01]

@@icefire20001 Hmm... I replied to you with links, but I don't see it anymore.

[@icefire20001]

@@AMKB01 Darn! Maybe links are disabled. I'd really like that information though. Could you please type the specific names of the nut tree varieties and the vendors that sell them so that I can find them with a Google search? Thank you!!

[@AMKB01]

@@icefire20001 Okay, this is weird. Not only did my reply disappear again, even though I put spaces so the urls were not active, but this is the third time I've tried to reply. Previously, each time I tried to list the names of the companies, when hitting the entre key or a space bar, my browser would suddenly go to some random page in my history that I haven't been to in ages. Third times the charm? Tree Time Prairie Hardy Nursery Hardy Fruit Trees

[@icefire20001]

@@AMKB01 thank you for taking the time to write these nursery names again! Unfortunately they don't seem to have any Heartnuts that can go below Zone 5, not Buartnuts that can go below Zone 4, but they do show some other options like Butternuts. I think the author of the video is really pushing the zone limits on his Heartnuts. Thank you again!

[@RoseNZieg]

I have never used a nutcracker on walnuts. I just use a fist-size rock with a flat side straight on a clean concrete block. i just give the nut one or two love taps and then pry it open. no need for safety glasses.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Works well with English walnuts. Have you tried it on black walnuts?

[@MrLeobub]

I just watched a video where walnuts in the shell were boiled in water for ten minutes, then after cooling, two were held in one palm and squeezed together popping both open with the greatest of ease. Sounds worth a try to me!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

That may work, but the energy required for that is just ridiculous. I couldn't imagine ever doing that. Maybe if I was already running a batch of biochar, and I had "free heat" from that, butn10 minutes of boiling just to alleviate physical opening a husk, that just seems extraordinarily wasteful.

[@MrLeobub]

I’m just an old woman with two walnut trees and a wood stove so it’ll work just fine for me. I just thought you’d appreciate the technique. Thanks for your videos. I have been contemplating a food forest around my little orchard for some time now and your insights are truly inspiring.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

This would be the only way I could imagine doing it... it I was using the wood stove for heat anyways. Great stuff 👏

[@sheilamclaughlin963]

Pliers work good on hazel nuts

[@emwing1458]

I have a young Buartnut tree in my food forest... can't wait! I know butternuts have a disease that's affecting a lot of trees - are heartnuts immune? Also, don't forget the valiant Hackberry tree - nuts have a perfect balance of protein, carbs, and fats, store easily without processing, are very hardy. It's my apocalypse tree (but the apocalypse better take its time - the tree's only a foot tall).

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

LOL at the last part! As far as I know the heartnuts don't Harbour any diseases here. Could be different everywhere though.

[@jan9050]

There are many varieties of Hazel nut trees, which varieties do you think have the best taste? I'm glad your video came up, I had forgotten my plans to grow Hazelnuts.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I honestly don't know what variety mine are unfortunately. I didn't keep track when I planted them about 5 years ago.

[@johnowens5342]

Mark Sheppard has extremely robust hybrid production strains. just Google his name and the word hazelnut. I bought from him and the plants had fantastic roots development so none died. He sells in packs of 25 but the price is right.

[@worminstool]

And the "potato of nuts", Dunstan chestnuts!

[@bethanyringdal7247]

Good to see how much you like the heartnut! Are you having problems with the heartnut inhibiting nearby plants? I have a smallish property, so not a lot of room to mess with allelopathy, but that looks like a winner otherwise.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Not yet, but they are still relatively small. It may change in another decade or two. I've planted companion plants around them that can tolerate the juglone, so hopefully we get a juglans guild established in these areas.

[@julie-annepineau4022]

Hope you are staying safe in the storms. Do you have a go to variety of hazelnut? We have a native beaked hazel nut and a variety of butternut here. I know some are better for eating than others.

[@JF-hv2bl]

Howdy! I just found your channel. Have you considered a gravity-based nutcracker for your walnuts? You'd have to experiment with the right weight and setup, but it might end up working! For example, you could fix something to a wall that drops a brick straight down onto 4-6 walnuts. If a brick isn't heavy enough, you could try, 2 or something else entirely. You could also make a housing out of 2x4s to make sure the brick drops straight down, too

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I haven't thought of that. I think it would need to be REALLY heavy, just thinking about the PSI I can put on these in the nutcracker. welcome, and thanks for the comment 😀

[@barbarasimoes9463]

I have four hazelnuts growing out back and I've wanted to plant heartnut but with Juglans in the name, I worry that it will adversely affect other growing things...Right now, I have some persimmon, pawpaw, grapes, mulberry, kiwi and bush cherries back there and plans for more things on order. I've read about pawpaws being immune; what has been your experience with other plants growing (or not growing) nearby? It was a nice Christmas present to see that you had uploaded a video...I hope your holiday is full of love and happiness. Thank you! I was one of the lucky ones and only lost power for about an hour. Still, I am considering maybe putting in some battery backup. I am hoping that the cost comes down on them as more companies are producing them.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

The only place I have them is near paw paws and raspberries because I've read they can tolerate and even thrive with Juglans species.

[@annburge291]

Peaches and mulberries can cope with juglans. I separate my apple trees from the pecans with a mulberry or a peach tree or even a mezquite. Pumpkins can grow near pecans.

[@twenty-fifth420]

My fathers house which I plan to inherit (it is on a quarter acre lot so it is fairly big, even by American yard standards.), has a huge and old Pecan tree I plan to keep. Of course many my family’s trees I plan to keep, even the Peach tree even though I dont like peaches (maybe I can find a partner who does.) Pecans are very cold hardy, but take a LONG time to grow. Of course, mine is fully grown, but it is in some ways the exception since I didn’t even grow it, my brother and dad did. I just know when I do grow nuts, I have considered Walnuts, Pecans and if I can make it work in this region, Pistachios. (Even I have to use a greenhouse!) I am in Zone 7, which might warm to an 8 but we had a few cold nights recently so I don’t expect mother nature to give me a break just yet…

[@annburge291]

Pecans grow in clay soils and pistachios need sandy soils. None of my pistachios are doing well in regards to giving a harvest. The grafts tended to fail and the shells are empty on the ones that survived. We have a massive non grafted pistachio hugging a septic tank totally overshadowing the inner city house. Because it's roots are warm, it doesn't lose its leaves in winter (-10C) until the new leaves come in spring. All the pistachios on the outer city block loose their leaves early autumn.

[@twenty-fifth420]

@@annburge291 Well we have a clay-like soil and a sandy-soil depending on where we plant, but I would estimate ~80% of the soil in my region is clay. The sandy soil parts are largely due to erosion, some geological refuse and the arid environment I do still want to try and grow pistachios however I can since they are my favorite nut, even if I have to put that sucker in a greenhouse to make sure they get proper attention 🤣 Thank you for the insight! I will be careful. I am in the SW of the US region. So this was helpful.

[@RKOuttathebox]

Vise-grips work well to break black walnuts, but they still explode!

[@bonbonlewis5140]

I'm amazed anybody has heartnuts! My grandmother had them. I never hear of them being available anywhere. How many years do they take to bear?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Roughly 8 plus or minus say 3.

[@jennifervert2601]

I was hoping you might have a list of all your most successful plants/trees? What soil type do you have?

[@billastell3753]

The problem you are having with black walnuts is they are not an easy cracking variety. The common ones we have in your/my area is they are a PIA to crack. There are better black walnut varieties. One good one that grows well is Emma K. It is productive, annual bearing, and has the thinnest shell of any black walnuts that I am familiar with. With regards to hazelnuts, as you said they are real good producers but every last nut will be eaten by rodents and blue jays before they are half ripe. If you live where there are no trees within scampering distance for squirrels etc., you have a chance of getting some nuts for yourself.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Thanks for this!

[@Crina-LudmilaCristeaAuthor]

💛

[@cleonawallace376]

Great video! I'd love to great more about what heart nuts taste like! As a long term nut eating vegetarian I'm shocked there's a whole type of but I've never heard of! How come they are never sold commercially? Or maybe just not in Europe. I'm in Italy so we have tons of hazlenuts farms all around us, and when we bought our land we already had a few hazlenuts, which we've coppiced, and some walnuts which we're yet to rescue from a sea of brambles. But we're lucky also to get fat from our olives. And then sunflowers and hulless squash for pepitas are an annual source.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

They are in the walnut family, so they taste exactly like a walnut.

[@sheilamclaughlin963]

Piñon pine I figured was the pine nuts people are? They r 1/4-5/16 fine shelled nuts in a pine cone, birds and squirrels love them

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Thats true for the US. Other pine nuts come from the Italian stone pine (P. pinea), and the Chinese nut pine (P. koraiensis).

[@harriettejensen479]

Happy Holidays! Because you get snow and an adequate amount of rain, you might get almonds. However, they require a huge amount of water to produce nuts. I live in Northeren California and I did water my tree, but because of the drought, not very much and I got THREE almonds. None of my fruit trees were non-producing. In fact, my pineapple guava produced for the first time in the 8 years I've been growing it. Also, I have heard that it is hard to beat the squirrels and chipmunks to hazelnuts and I do have a lot of squirresls. Have you tried netting your trees? I am 82, so I on't have a lot of future to wait around for walnuts.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I may net some of them, but not until I see how the entire food forest behaves and balances out over time. For now, I consider every lost nut to be a blessing. Squirrels won't find all the nuts they bury, and many will be new trees in a decade. I'm in no rush.

[@harriettejensen479]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy That's what I call true Positive Thinking!

[@Lochness19]

Squirrels were the first thing I was wondering about when I opened this video. Maybe if you have enough trees it'll be too much for them to eat all the hazelnuts all at once? Especially if you have predators keeping the population down? (foxes, coyotes, maybe hawks, minks, cats... dog may not kill them but at least scare them away)

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

That's my plan. Just over plant so many trees that they can't keep up. Any they take are buried, and they often miss and forget some which leads to many free planted trees. It's all nature's gifts.

[@JessicaJLandi]

I can hardly believe I've never heard of a heart nut. But then again, you've introduced me to the seabuckthorn berry so why should I be surprised? Also, I wonder if black walnuts would be good a fire fuel for the fireplace.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Black walnut is a very hard wood so it burns well. Often the wood is so valuable for furniture that many woodworkers would cry if it was burned though! But a windy gnarly tree may not be good for wood, so I could see burning a poor furniture wood black walnut.

[@rockskipper5353]

Using a hard rock works pretty good for walnuts

[@pavlovssheep5548]

Turkish hazel nuts Corylus colurna grows as a taller tree , compared to the bushy European hazel Corylus avellana

[@af8828]

I believe a viable chestnut GM tree has been created - hopefully it can be approved for planting by the public soon

[@ZukosWorld]

Lugnuts are pheonominal