This Thursday visit I had to put off, finishing off, the gates to the orchard, again! I have been testing the pistachios for “readiness” to harvest, and today it happened. I squeezed a fruit between my thumb and forefinger and the nut slipped out of the hull!! Everything I’ve read to prepare for this years crop says there is a short window period of a few days between ready to harvest and too late to harvest, so I felt I had to drop everything and harvest those pistachios.
Then we carried the nuts up the hill in the wheel barrow to the cleaned off parking apron of the shop and danced around on them ala Zorba The Greek to “hull” them – ( It was the quick solution. I think it worked pretty good. I’ll think up a better option next year. ) – and spread them out to dry. We will have to cover them up in the evening to keep the critters from eating them. Deer LOVE them.
