Kew Road Chestnuts

It was chestnut season a week or two ago and now they are over but I still have the pics. Being from the Kew Road, they are probably full of horrible pollutants but they were very sweet and delicious after a bit of roasting. They went down well in this house and you can see the before and after in the pics. I also put some into a potato mash with Kew Road Walnuts as well. It went very well with the pheasant that Dad gave us from the Richmond Market game stall, roasted and stewed with beetroots and loads of gorgeous veg.

Chestnuts come in a prickly casing which you stamp on to pop the nut out so you don't have to get your fingers scratched.

The walnuts make a great and very durable dye but I haven't used it because we were moving back into the flat after the New Kitchen and all that, so I didn't have time to do all the processing.

I have bought some wool carders however, and will spend the winter processing the fleeces I collected in the summer. The white wool will be dyed with colours from the nettle roots and onion skins that I also have been collecting up, and when I am ready I will collect some walnut leaves which are just as good as the flesh on the outside of the nuts for dyeing with.

Why are most of the trees in the back streets just horse chestnuts and planes, when we could all be eating fabulous walnuts and chestnuts every autumn?

I even planted a Kew Road chestnut last year in a little pot and now its a healthy seedling. But I wonder where he will live, will I find him a good home?

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