Late September and fresh walnuts are beginning to drop.

Walnuts still in their green husk are simply called green walnuts or fresh walnuts. 'Fresh walnuts' will be used here so as to not confuse the descriptive name of the entire fruit with the common name of the mature nut, which is black walnut.

Technically, the fruit is classified as a drupe, which is defined as a simple fleshy fruit that contains a single seed or nut, such as a cherry, peach, or olive. The hard, corrugated seed of a walnut drupe, the nut, contains an oily, edible kernel, commonly called the nutmeat. The the outer layer of the drupe or fresh walnut is a yellow-green hull, also known as the husk.

In late September fresh walnuts begin to fall from the trees and continue to do so through most of October. To many people in our current state of society, this bounty from a magnificent, native hardwood is considered a nuisance and a hindrance to a neat and well-groomed lawn. However, wise and prudent citizens know to gather these humble drupes, and with a small effort, extract the nutmeat, a top contender for the most nutritious of all the nutmeats. As Bear Claw Chris Lapp said to Jerimiah Johnson, "Good thing to know when times get hard."

Mature fresh walnuts that will soon fall.