Black Walnut (Juglan nigra)
Bernheim has an abundance of black walnut trees. You can find many of them growing down the hill from the Education Center as well as in the nut collection located near Bernheim’s main entrance. In 2008, thousand cankers disease (TCD) became an officially recognized disease affecting walnuts. It’s caused by a fungus and spread by a walnut twig beetle.
Questions to Ponder at Bernheim
Find a walnut tree and get acquainted. What do you notice? What do you wonder about this tree? Does it remind you of anything, or bring up memories?
At Home Activities
Kids craft ideas using black walnut
If you have black walnut trees in your neighborhood, try harvesting them for special holiday recipes. Bake something with black walnuts. If you can’t find a source for harvesting (Bernheim has a no collecting policy), you can find black walnuts in most grocery stores. I love black walnuts in oatmeal raisin cookies. Be aware that some people are seriously allergic to certain nuts.
Resources
Harvesting, drying, and curing black walnuts
Black walnut raisin oatmeal cookies recipe