Kay Hively: Walnut season is nearly upon us

For years, in the fall, I wrote a newspaper feature about black walnuts. I find the story of the black walnut in the Ozarks a fascinating one. I am taken with the folks who gather and sell them. I enjoy visiting the buying station in the area and meeting the man who buys the walnuts. I like talking to the people who haul them to the station.

The buying season begins October 1.

Collecting black walnuts has a long history in the area. For years, many families gathered nuts in the fall, often using the money to buy Christmas gifts.

When the walnut trees lose their leaves, exposing the nuts, families got ready. It was usually after a big frost that the nuts began falling. The entire family worked, usually after school and on weekends, scooping up the nuts which were encased in a mushy, green outer cover.

Many young people in the Ozarks-of-old earned their first dollar gathering walnuts. Picking strawberries in summer and gathering walnuts in fall were the best way for kids, and even some families, to make much-needed extra money.

Today, people gather walnuts for a variety of reasons. Many, of course, still do it for the money, especially the kids. They usually work on weekends. but since the buying station is not always open then, the nuts are hauled to the station by a parent, or most likely, a grandparent. The kids find out how much money they have made after school on Monday.

Between Russell and me, we have met a lot of people gathering walnuts. One couple Russell interviewed raked and picked up nuts for the exercise. They didn't need the money but they wanted them picked up and, reversing the old trend, they used the money to buy Christmas presents for their grandchildren.

Getting the nuts off the lawn is one of the big reasons for gathering them. The large, hard nuts become bullets when they are run over by a lawnmower. So a yard full of walnuts is dangerous.

Several older folks who have walnut trees send out the word that people can come gather in their yard and keep the money. The elderly worry about stepping on the nuts and falling. Removing them may prevent a broken arm, leg or hip.

For families, getting everyone together to pick up walnuts is a reason for them to spend time with each other. Everyone enjoys the fall weather and the bonding that come from doing things as a family. There is a lot of learning, talking and, I would guess, a lot of deciding how to split the money.

Unfortunately, this old tradition is falling by the wayside. Today's kids have more money than their grandparents and parents had, and much of it doesn't require any work. Most kids would rather do something besides gather walnuts.

Also the popularity of walnut lumber is costing the Ozarks many of these wonderful trees. One only has to pay attention to lumber trucks moving down the highway full of walnut logs.

Just between you and me, one of the most beautiful scenes you can see as you drive the highways and byways of the Ozarks is a family out gathering walnuts,

(Kay HIvely is a historian, author and former editor, reporter and columnist for the Neosho Daily News and Neosho Post.)