The full nine yards

Walnuts now all triaged for split and empty shells. The big green box at front is the duffers. I would every now and then crack one open and many seem to be ok. So maybe I’ll go at them with a hammer and pickle what is there. (I spent an hour Listening to two Italian football matches being transmitted on radio simultaneously and hammering away. Walnuts split best when hit from the top. Filled a big bowl (extra). I was probably chucking away three walnuts for one good one. Stopped when I could no longer see my fingers. Will soak in 10% brine solution for two days and pickle in vinegar with a bit of sugar, juniper berries and peppercorns.)

Blipper Munroist4113 told me of her visit to the huge (75,000 acre/HA?) walnut forests of Kyrgyzstan. I found a blog https://roadsandkingdoms.com/2017/inside-the-worlds-largest-walnut-forest/ about them.

Apparently the local Uzbeks rub themselves or hopefully each other with walnut oil in the winter to keep warm.

The heating man Luciano popped by yest to measure up the boiler room. But if for some Covid related reason the heating is not installed this winter we’ll be giving the locals a shock when we turn up rosy cheeked in masks and gloves and glistening with walnut oil.

Walnut butter, walnut flour, walnut oil. The uses are endless. Unfortunately local oil mills - frantoi - are all geared to the ubiquitous olive. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen a bottle of walnut oil in Italy. I’ll ask around.

I went for a little porcini/sepp hunt. Still to early but came across this patch of heather in bloom just in a clearing in the woods above the house (extra). Domenico a neighbour passed by. He just had his driving licence taken away on account of his eyesight. He’s 87. His wife has a licence which they renew each year but she has never driven. They’ll be getting the bus in and out to Florence although they seem happy to be here til the cold weather sets in. He mentioned some whisky he’s had for 20 years. I’ll be taking them some nuts and maybe a box of veg from the garden.

I haven’t heard the hobbies today. I wonder if they’ve set off southwards with the house martins. The swifts and swallows are long gone.