At our home in West Tennessee (Litsa’s), we have two pecan trees in our backyard. I don’t claim to know much about pecan trees but I know that these two trees are similar but vary in structure too. This fall, I have noticed that one has lost all (or most of its leaves) but the other pecan tree is covered in leaves.
As I was allowing my daughter to play outside on gorgeous autumn afternoons, I began to rake up piles and piles of leaves even though the weekday and weekend appointments with raking didn’t even make a dent into the leaf piles that are going to drop the rest of this season. But while we were outside playing and raking, I discovered that our pecan tree had dropped decadent, brown little packages all over the yard.
In the past, my in-laws would gather the pecans for baking. In 2013, we harvested the pecans for a little extra pocket cash. But in 2014, I didn’t notice any or enough pecans to harvest. Thus, these little gems remained forgotten until this season. When I rediscovered them as we were raking, we began to fill bags and buckets. Friends came over to spend time outside and all the girls gathered as they played and chattered around us.
After we had several hands of pecans picked, we called in to a local pecan buying location in town. They tested a handful of pecans that our girls had harvested. The pecans passed inspection and were labeled as #1 seeds. The four girls had picked 43 lbs of small pecans. They received $8.20 each from their pecan harvest. Having the money in hand immediately after their hard work, they were eager to gather more pecans for their next payout.
Forty more pounds of pecans were picked—-and this one bare tree in our yard still has little brown packages all over our yard! I’ve learned to take notice of pecan trees now that they’ve surprised we with such a wonderful harvest again this year. Even if the pecan trees skip a year of dropping off little seeds, the are sure to delight again. Look around you—-do you have a pecan tree in your yard, a family’s yard, and/or a friend’s yard that you can help harvest?
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