Hickory Nut Cookie Bars

I ended up making cookie bars instead and freezing the rest of the nuts. Here's the recipe in case you want it, and remember you can substitute pecans if you aren't lucky enough to have access to a hickory tree. Because you smash them open with a hammer, you can't avoid getting tiny fragments of shell in with the nut meat, no matter how careful you are, so don't chew too vigorously until you're sure there aren't shell bits in there. They could crack a tooth.

Cookie Bars

1 c. quick oats

1 c. white flour

2/3 c. sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 t. baking soda

2 t. baking powder

1 cup minced nuts

Mix together. Pour in 1 c. butter, melted. Press into 8x10 pan and bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes until golden. Let cool a few minutes, cut into bars, and then let cool completely before removing from pan. And remember you've been warned about the shells.

Curl up to eat with a good dose of Pride and Prejudice and a glass of milk.

Score!

While I was walking the dog this morning, I discovered a shagbark hickory tree at the side of the road. I took Brio home, grabbed a bag, and went back to gather nuts. I only took the ones on the edge of the road, but when the homeowners are home, I'll go back and ask if I can clean off their lawn too.

Hickory nuts are almost like pecans, but with a hint of maple flavour. They smell wonderfully like maple too. The only way to open them is to hit them hard with a hammer, which smashes the meat inside, unfortunately. But you can use them for pies and tarts or in pancakes or cookies, you can boil them down with a little sugar to make a pancake syrup, or you can skim off the oil to make hickory butter. They are very calorie-dense so you shouldn't eat a ton of them. I'm going to dry mine, freeze most of them, and make some shortbread with the rest (think pecan sandies). It may take a week to open all of them, though. I don't have a nut pick, but I have the dental tools I use on the stained glass windows, which I can wash really well before using.

I carried my loot home with a grin on my face. What a treasure! And they were just left lying there.

The most aggressive campaign sign I've seen in Canada

 

This was the year for squash

With all the heat and rain we've gotten, the squash has been awesome. I've got 11 spaghetti squash and 16 butternut. Freezing most of it for the winter. I figure I've saved myself over $100 on the grocery bill in squash alone.

My Edible Neighbourhood

I went walking around my neighbourhood today and came across a school class of teenagers walking through the local forest. They were taking notes and talking about plants in a general sort of way. I was tempted to stop and tell them that 26 of the plants they were looking at were edible. 

• sumac
• walnuts
• acorns
• chestnuts
• crabapples
• wood sorrell
• dandelion
• plantain
• purslane
• lamb's quarters
• burdock
• stinging nettle
• thistle
• chicory
• various maple trees (syrup)
• birch (syrup)
• Japanese maple (leaves)
• sedum
• rose hips
• goldenrod
• mint
• echinacea
• garlic mustard
• wild lettuce
• wild strawberry
• clover

And that list doesn't cover the vegetables spilling over fences from people's yards. Forget packing your sack lunch -- just bring a fork and go outside...

Decapitation Time

 Beheaded the catalpa trees at the end of the driveway, as we do every fall.

Why do we say beheaded but decapitated? Why not deheaded? Or even unheaded?

Such things make me lie awake at night. As Tom Stoppard says, "Consistency is all I ask!"

The impact of social media

I was walking the dog through the little park by our house, and I saw a young boy, maybe ten years old, sitting at the top of the slide on the playground. He wasn't sliding or just chilling, though -- he was hunched over sobbing audibly. Of course I stopped and asked him if he was okay.

Embarrassed, he told me he was fine and he didn't want attention drawn to himself, so I let him know I was available to talk if he wanted to, and I continued my walk. Another circumlocution around the park and I returned to the slide, where he continued to weep. So I stopped and asked him again if there was anything I could do for him. I told him I didn't feel I could just walk away and leave him like that.

He wiped his eyes and then wobbled his phone at me and said, "Just some minor drama." Ah. I talked to him for a moment and acknowledged that sometimes the drama didn't feel minor, and that I was there for him if he needed me, and that things could get better. He thanked me and said he'd be okay, and he seemed a bit steadier by then. So I gave him a lame and useless "Hang in there" and continued home. But the words I really wanted to say to him were "Hang up your phone! Those aren't your true friends. Stay off the social media for a while and let it fade. You don't have to read hurtful things. You can hang up on it and get it out of your life with the click of a button." 

Poor kid. When I walked back again a bit later, he had gone. I hope he can talk to his parents about what's upsetting him. How much damage a thoughtless or cutting remark can make! We have to work to keep such things out of our lives, and teach our children they are worth so much more than a "like" on facebook!