Does anyone harvest Black Walnuts from backyard trees?

Hammons walnuts has buyers allover the country. Check their web page for a list.

http://www.black-walnuts.com/

Black walnuts have a much stronger taste than the english walnuts normally used for eating, a lot of people don't like them. You don't need any roasting process, they can be used out of the shell. The husk is probably easier to remove while the nuts are green but it contains a juice that will stain your skin or anything else brown and there's no way to wash it off. I did see a newspaper article a few years ago recommending the best way to husk them was to drive your car over them on the driveway. Never tried it though. You wouldn't have to worry about the shells breakiing though. Black walnuts have really tough shells. PS once you do get them cracked its still a big pain to get the nut meat out. I suspect your neighbor tried and decided that it wasn't worth the trouble.

Have you put a sign up outside saying free walnuts? If that doesn't work, try an ad somewhere else, like in the paper. I have the time and last year harvested ours and got lots of good walnuts. Gave them to friends and family and kept some. Will do it again this year. It was a lot of work!

Try putting an ad on Craig's List - make sure you give a phone number but NO address, so that they will need to call you first. Make it clear that you don't deliver them, that they get what they pick up, and that they're not hulled/shelled. Likewise, be sure to set definite hours for people to come by. With those precautions in place, Craig's List is a pretty good way to get rid of things you don't want (or find things you do) - at least I've had good results.

In my area, black walnuts are a tremendous "cash crop". People pick them up like crazy and take them to a huller, who usually pays about $10 - $12 per hundredweight for them. My kids always got their Christmas spending money from picking up walnuts. You can pick up about 200 lbs. per hour, which translates into $20+ per hour. Pretty good wage. If you don't have walnut buyers in your area, you can pick them up, spread them in the driveway where you will drive over them everyday for about two weeks, which breaks the hulls off. Then pick up the nuts, and crack them with a hammer to get the nutmeats out. Black walnut ice cream and black walnut brittle are scrumptuous and well worth the labor. Or you can just let the squirrels have them.

Are you having trouble growing anything else? Normally, where there's a black walnut tree nothing else will grow. Most people I know have cut them down because of that and the mess they make.

I pay the chrildren a few cents a pioece pick to pick up ..I also watch the squirels peel the outer green skin and take off with the walnut!

I wish the tree did not create such a MESS....

I've heard from many people that just want them up. Bag-A-Nut has a machine that will pick them up without you bending down to pick them up one by one. Check it out at Baganut.com. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O8Egm96PlU

That depends on where you live. You can actually sell the shells. the aircraft industry uses they to make an abrasive to clean jet parts.

IF YOU LIVE IN AN AMISH COMMUNITY USUALLY THEY'LL TAKE THEM OFF YOUR HANDS JUST ADVERTISE IT!!