They hung like God’s own ornaments high in the branches of a tree. Light yellow-green spheres between two and three inches in diameter, they seemed almost iridescent against an overcast October sky. But these were no Christmas decorations perched in a conical evergreen. They hung high in the spreading crown of a black walnut tree among the last fronds of its ferny foliage.
With my friend Dave, I was out for a morning’s nutting, determined to come home with a bagful of the tree’s bounty. Despite the beckoning globes high above, our foraging did not require climbing or even reaching up. The tree determines ripeness by releasing its jewels, and we made quick work of picking them off the grass and pavement where it grew alongside a stone church at the edge of a parking lot. The green balls were slightly nubbly with the faintest of citrus scent, leaving a pleasant smell on my hands. Of course, these were only the thick husks covering a hard shell. Within the shell was our true quarry, the tiny edible kernel.
