Did You Hear About Pecans?

Here is another of Archie Brown's favorite stories:

There is one thing about fall toward which I look forward. Pecans. I love pecans. When I was a little boy we had three pecan trees in our yard. And the school grounds, two blocks away were covered with pecan trees. Every year in October, we looked forward to the pecan crop. Almost every day for a couple of weeks we would go to the school yard and gather the nuts that had fallen that day. We would sometimes wait to pick up those in the yard, knowing they would be there when we finished the harvest on the public grounds.

Picking up pecans is work, but there were some good reasons to pick up all I could. One of those reasons is that we could sell the ones we would not use, and a little spending money was always welcome. Most often it is what we used to fund our trips to the county fair. When I was a sophomore in high school I asked my dad for some money to buy my date to the homecoming game a corsage. His reply was “I only buy flowers for two girls, your mom and your sister; you need to find another way.” That sounds harsh to you, did to me at the time. But I believe it was his way of telling me he did not have any extra money. I had a week to come up with something.

That night, a Friday, a big thunderstorm blew through town. I got up early and went to the school grounds. The pecans were down, all over the ground. I worked very hard that morning and was able to pick up 117 pounds. Usually a good day’s total was about 20 pounds. I sold the pecans at the local feed store, and had the funds for my homecoming date.

I still love to pick up pecans. It is a time of quiet and a release of any worry about anything but the nuts on the ground. I now only pick up enough for our use. I will sit in front of a football game on television and crack the pecans, shell them. I did that during the West Virginia/Louisville game last night. When I fill a Tupperware dish with the little delights, I turn them over to my wife who makes candies and pies and cookies for the holidays. I also love to give shelled pecans as gifts to my kids. They know I am sharing a treasure with them.

I am nuts for pecans!

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