Nothing intrigues a child more than a simple machine.
After cleaning all the black walnuts we’d harvested a month earlier, I was back to share my walnut cracker with Bird Lady and her grandchildren. After one demonstration on how to position the walnut and set the tension, pulling the lever was a big hit. The delicious nut was just another added benefit.
I don’t have grandchildren, so this is the next best thing. And the experience just keeps getting better and better.
For added fun, I brought butternuts and chestnuts for Show-&-Tell. Bird Lady brought hickory nuts. We learned the hickory nuts can also be cracked in my nutcracker.
Now that she knows how to clean the walnuts, Bird Lady gathered the largest walnuts she could find in the yard and took them home to clean them.
She’s got other grandchildren who live nearer to her house. She’s already figured out an easier way to clean the husks and last I heard, she was adapting a table vise to use as a nutcracker until she can order a portable one.
Sharing nature knowledge just doesn’t get any better than this.