a lot of pecans and a little bit of cotton

Lucy holding the outer husk of the pecan that she calls a flower

My grandpa pretty much lives in the middle of a pecan orchard, so this time of year always holds an abundance of pecans for the taking. And they are so much better than the store bought kind. Seriously, the ones at the grocery store are a joke.

If you have never shelled pecans, just know that it can be hard work (even if you take them to get them cracked first). The shells are hard and can leave your fingers numb if you shell a lot of them. I have such vivid memories of my grandma sitting and shelling pecans. She loved it. The phrase "a bag of grandma's pecans" carries a lot of weight in our family. She would shell the pecans and then put them in bags in the freezer for all of her children and grandchildren. Now that she is no longer with us, there aren't very many bags left in the freezer. And we all cherish what we have left. Like they are a little bit of her that we still have with us. I still have over half a gallon bag in my freezer, which can cause quite a problem. Why? Well, when I am going to be baking something to share, I want to use those pecans because they are so delicious. The problem? I don't want to share them! (I know, I know. I'm an awful person.)

I decided the best way to solve the problem was to go and pick some up at my grandpa's and shell them myself. So, my mom, the kids, grandpa and I ending up picking up about twelve pounds in just a short time. I then took them to get them cracked and then I commenced to shelling them (with the help of Michael's dad). My fingers were so sore that warm water hurt them! I got two gallon bags of them, which is the equivalent of about fifty dollars worth of shelled pecans. Whoa! And it only took a little over an hour total. And these I can actually share! Here is Lucy "wielding" the Nut Wizard ) or as we refer to it, "The Pecan Picker Upper."

There is also a cotton field next to my grandpa's house and the kids always love picking a boll of it to play with. I wonder why Larkin looked so concerned...
And what post would be complete without a photo of my grandpa, right?