27 October 2013

Picking Walnuts

Personal picture // Freshly hand picked walnuts

Last week-end, I visited my family in my home region and enjoyed simple Autumn pleasures - a walk around a crater lake, views of forests slowly turning orange, family gatherings around the dining table, featuring garden vegetables and games. And picking walnuts down the road.

This is one of my favourite seasonal pleasures, hardly possible in Paris. Walking down the road and suddenly finding food. In Spring, there are cherries, in Summer berries, and in Autumn, nuts. I remember there was an almond tree in the playground of my kindergarten and it was such a joy to find almonds around it, cracking them open with a rock and eating our hardly won prize (it isn't easy to crack an almond with a rock, especially when you are 4 years old).

Which made me think, children have so many ways to enjoy the present moment, make a game of everything, and be happy with simple things. I want to keep nurturing this fresh approach to life, and enjoy the simple gifts of nature and seasons.

This year, we went on a walk with my boyfriend, with very little expectations, having been told there weren't many walnuts this year. A gust of wind, and suddenly, it was raining nuts. Thankfully, it wasn't a coconut tree, as we were just underneath.

Finding the prize // Personal picture

The first one is a rush of excitement: "look, there are walnuts on the ground!" Then it is the gathering game, who will find the most walnuts?

Improvised bag // Personal picture

Of course, we hadn't planned for this, picking walnuts is never planned. So we used my scarf as an improvised bag to bring them all back home.

The treasured prize // Personal picture

It may sound weird, in our modern society, that we'd find so much joy in finding our own food in the nature. After all, that's where food is supposed to be, initially. Perhaps local folks thought: "Argh, Parisians". Or maybe they enjoy picking walnuts on their walks too.

Home made walnut brownie // personal pictures

The final joy is to actually eat the hardly won prize. We've had our share or raw walnuts these past days - fresh, cracking under the teeth, tasting so much better than the supermarket kind. I also like to bake walnut-involving cakes - like the brownie above. There is something special in eating the results of your own efforts, as if this cake was a bit more my own than usual...


On a side note, the "improvisation" post I mentioned is still in the works, I seem to have a harder time putting together long thoughts posts lately, maybe Maja is right, it is hibernation kicking in. Or maybe it is because I found out Diablo III works on my MacBook and spend my nights doing co-op games with my friends back in Lyon...

14 comments:

  1. Now I'd really like to see the place you were walking in, dodging incoming walnuts! It feels good to have that kind of visit back to your home, your old stomping grounds--where you feel refreshed and comforted by the pleasures of activities past.

    The charcoal gray sweater is also very lovely with the berry colored pants.

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    1. Yes, it is very refreshing to spend a week-end among the good old volcanos and forests where I grew up. The nature, quiet, and of course family gathering, are very energizing :)

      Thanks for the outfit note. Wearing colourful pants is a new thing for me, glad you like it!

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  2. I love to do similar things when I go to my hometown too. Earlier this month I enjoyed picking grapes, such a meditative day - working with my hands and seeing the product, spending time with family and friends on a shared goal and over a good meal later... Few things this fall were better :)

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    1. I agree, that week-end was one of my best this fall too. I think there is a particular energy to these simple activities, nature and loved ones...

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  3. Oh how wonderful! I'd love to be able to have walnuts blowing off the trees around me! A friend in Finland has been going into the forest to forage for mushrooms lately and it sounds so lovely and makes me hate living in the city a little bit.

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    1. Ah, picking mushrooms is great too! We don't do it often though, for some of them may be poisonous and we really need to know them well. But it is true that this type of nature activities make me miss country life sometimes. Although, after one week there I'm usually eager to come back to Paris!

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  4. What a lovely moment, thank you for sharing.

    Today, we were hiking in the rain in what turned out to be a chestnut forest. We collected a lot and they are drying out in the kitchen right now. We also passed an older man carrying a wicker basket full of chestnuts and wild mushrooms. It is amazing to me what the world has to offer.

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    1. It is amazing indeed, finding all these things around is is a reminder of how rich and generous nature can be. Something we tend to forget when we live in a city. Thanks for sharing your own experience; I hope you enjoyed your chestnuts :)

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  5. This insight is so cute. One of the biggest benefits of living someone that is not a concrete jungle! This post reminds me of a great horseback riding trip I had back in Vancouver just picking berries through the trail on the back of the horse. It's sad that it's so hard for so many people to process the idea that food can be found out in the nature and consumed that way outside of the supermarket.

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    1. Ah, horseriding and berries, that sounds like a lovely day! It is true that it is sad how people can forget the simple things nature has to offer. I watched a TED talk about teaching children about food, and it was sad to see they didn't even recognize raw potatoes...

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  6. How fantastic. This would never happen in Singapore! Last year in New Zealand we picked mussels from the sea...I never enjoyed mussels more.

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    1. Fresh seafood, how great! That's a seaside pleasure I never tire of, whenever I travel along the coast. I'm sure there are many more pleasures to be enjoyed either in Singapore or in the surrounding islands. I remember fresh coconuts and the most delicious mango I ever ate during my short trip there...

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  7. I've never picked nuts of any kind and rather would love to. We have some pecan farms here I've been wanting to go to. This gives me that added incentive to go.

    Also, I'm rather new to your blog but after reading your comment on another blog I thought I'd check it out. Glad to find another person living simply and enjoying the little things in life. Cheers to you. ^_^

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    1. Thank you for your kind word, and welcome! I hope you will enjoy picking pecan nuts :) It is alwayd great to connect to another person who chooses to live simply.

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