Foraging

 

Yesterday we went with our daughter to pick chestnuts.  Our Elizabeth loves them roasted so much she will eat a hot bowl of them like popcorn.  

Picking might be a term you can't use for chestnuts, though.  It's more picking them UP from the ground because on the tree they protect themselves very well.

The outer casing, those burrs are PRICKLY

When they are really ready, start opening, looking like a Muppet mouth,

they fall and you want so badly to just pick them up from the ground and open that casing.

But they are very protective and needle sharp.

But if you want those beauties that are still protected, you have to use your shoes. One on each side you slide the casing off.

For the most part, you just walk along the ground and pick up the ones that have fallen from the outer casing 

It's not picking, it's picking UP, step and bend, step and bend.

In our daughter's family THIS is the sign of autumn.

We picked 18 pounds and it didn't take anytime at all 

This should be enough for Elizabeth, but she would say "only just!"

It was a fun time topped off with a visit to a farm stand heavy with pumpkins and squash and mums and donuts and a small country diner for lunch.