My current home doesn't have a verandah or even a porch but I dream of owning a little farmette again, with a verandah overlooking chickens, goats and gardens. Absolute heaven!

DECIDING WHAT NUT TREES TO PLANT

We have SOME sources of protein here on our tiny property.  We have goats (milk and meat) and chickens (eggs and meat) and plan to add rabbits, ducks and possibly pigs. But we don't eat a LOT of meat so plan to eat nuts, seeds and beans for protein too.

In Zone 5. Finally should have the money by Spring to plant berries, fruit trees and nut trees. The berries and fruits were easy: so many fruit trees come in dwarf and really dwarf sizes so I can fit them in here and there, not casting shadows on where we plan to plant grains.

But the nut trees have me a little stumped. There are a couple of almond trees that only get 10-15 feet tall so we'll be doing 3-4-5 of them. I don't want only almonds for our nut protein source! When I eat too many, it makes my throat itch.

Pecans won't grow here, so I understand although am highly disappointed. Same for pistachios and such. And we don't really like chestnuts.

Deciding between butternut and english walnuts. Both nut trees get between 30-50 feet tall so I can only have 3-4 total on our itty bitty property. Probably shading the goat and chicken pens.

For those of you who have experience:
-which has more protein?
-which is easier to harvest?
-which bears nuts fastest?
-which is more versatile (in cooking)
-which is easier to de-shell and freeze, dehydrate or can?
-oh, and we haven't eaten butternuts but they are supposed to be really buttery .. are they?

Thanks.

4 comments:

K-Koira said...

Have you looked at growing hazelnuts? They are a super small bush/shrub/tree thing, which you should easily be able to fit in without causing too much shade. Plus, hazelnuts are amazing.

Vee said...

Yes, actually. Just did. Will edit this posting to include hazelnuts and pinenuts. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

While I know that walnuts grow locally, there is some kind of blight going around killing walnut trees in Colorado. Talk to the County Agricultural Agent, or the Denver City Forester - they may be able to recommend disease resistant .

Also, make sure that you get English walnuts, because Black Walnuts also grow here, and while they provide shade, the nuts suck - they are small and hard to crack, and the juice gets everywhere and stains things. Whatever you choose, make sure the nuts will store without major effort - refrigeration, wrapping, etc.

I personally don't care much for walnuts anyway - and you should also be asking about the FAT content of the nuts.

How about peanuts? Will they grow here? They also fix nitrogen and improve the soil.

Peas and beans have protein, and also fix nitrogen into the soil, so that is another possibility. We grew pole beans this year and had a good crop - enough for both of us to get sick of green beans out of a 2x2 plot.

Vee said...

Thanks. I didn't know about the blight. Will do a bit more research. Since English Walnuts (I'd never get black walnuts) can grow from 30/40 to 100 feet tall, I really can only fit in 2 trees, so just decided just those 2 plus dwarf almond trees.

Love walnuts. Great DHA and not worried about the fat content as it's good fat.

Can't do peanuts. They make my son sick. We do pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, beans, peas, lentils (can't grow but am storing) and then the eggs, chicken and goat.

Oh, and gonna have meat rabbits. There's no fat there so the fat in the walnuts will be extra beneficial.

Should be sufficient sources of protein. Yeah?

Thanks for the input.