My pecan tree is stuffed -- STUFFED, I tell you -- with nuts, and the first ones that are ready to eat are just beginning to fall.
Luke and I spent half an hour yesterday running around the back and side yards looking for nuts and stuffing them into a brown paper bag. Well, I was actually the only one putting them in the bag. My 14 month-old thought it would be way more fun to take them out of the bag and give them to Goose -- one of our family dogs -- who also loves pecans.
Every time I found one, both Luke and Goose were on top of me, trying to take it away, and it became a big game -- me running around and yelling, "I found one over here!" and my son and the dog chasing after me.
We walked away with at least a 1/2 pound of nuts, and from the looks of the tree there are plenty more where those came from.
They sure do taste good, too.
You know, this is the first good crop we've gotten out of the tree? The first year we didn't get many, and between the squirrels and the dogs, we didn't find but a few. The next year, it was so hot, I don't think the tree gave us many at all.
This year, the pecan is happy and rewarding us with nuts.
I'm hoping to kept the big guy happy. We're spreading compost all over the entire yard, because our arborist says its roots go out two to three times the canopy. We're also planning on having the tree trimmed this winter.
Hopefully we'll get another big crop next year.
Could you tell me how the pecan crop is in Austin this year? How long into the fall or winter do they continue to fall? Are there parks or streets where people can pick them up free? Thanks.
The 2008 pecan crop has not been quite as bountiful. I have not harvested any from my tree this year. The few that it did produce were quickly snatched up by the dogs and squirrels. I have also not seen very many on local sidewalks.
Articles I have read say that the combination of the drought and it being the year after a record harvest have affected this year's crop. Texas was only expected to produce 32 million pounds of pecans this year -- compared with about 70 million pounds last year. The reason there are still a lot of pecans in grocery stores? Last year's bounty is supplementing.
I still have about nine grocery bags full of pecans from last year, and I'm hoping they are still good.