Isn't this a beautiful country lane? I travel this driveway each week to our down-the-road-a-bit neighbor's house to pick up raw milk...some for drinking and some for Hannah's soap.
During the last few weeks, this is the scene that's greeted me as I drive up...lots of walnuts have fallen from the trees on the left onto our friends' driveway and all along the sides. Sometimes the driveway has been so full of walnuts that it's hard to drive through them all.
After asking if we could gather the walnuts to use for Granny's stain for her baskets, we've been gathering walnuts each week....in fact, three huge boxes full of walnuts!
Here's where some of them are now....drying on our picnic table: 
The next step is cracking them open and putting them in a bucket of boiling water to help bring the walnut stain out more freely: 
We are waiting for this stain to be ready for dipping baskets. Granny recently received a custom order for 3 large baskets to be ready just before Thanksgiving. Here she is having a grand time making the first basket: 
In this next picture, Granny has woven quite a bit of the basket with the colors specified by the customer...brown, orange, and green: 
Now comes the binding around the top, and Sarah helps Granny since the basket is a big one and the weavers are extra long. This project has taken quite a bit of material to make, and much labor was involved: 
Sometimes even though all the measurements are correct when the basket is laid out, the size tends to grow a bit as the basket gets woven. Normally, this isn't a problem since all of Granny's baskets are unique and different in their own special way. That's the beauty of a handmade item.
In this case, however, the customer wanted the three baskets to fit specifically into three shelves in a piece of furniture, and they had to be the exact measurements.
After re-measuring, we found out the basket was just too big for the customer's purpose. So...once the walnut stain is ready, Granny will dip this basket and put it in her Etsy shop for sale. If you think you might be interested in a large colorful basket, keep an eye out in the next two weeks for that listing on Etsy.
In the meantime, she's made another one for the customer -- almost identical except smaller, and this time the measurements were right! Now....two more to go to have this order complete!
~Deb
Good use for all those walnuts! We've had an abundance of acorns this year. I ended up using some as part of fall decorations for a senior saints luncheon at church. Love putting nature to good use. See you soon!
Victoria
Posted by: victoria | Tuesday, October 28, 2014 at 09:01 AM
Hi Deb! Wow, that's a lot of walnuts. I think it's cool that Granny uses them to stain her baskets instead of those awful smelling stains from the store. Natural is always best. Love the look of her baskets, too. Hope you're all having a great week!
Posted by: Toni | Tuesday, October 28, 2014 at 10:33 AM
Didn't even know you could use walnuts for staining. Her baskets are amazing, so talented. Btw, love the blog!
Posted by: Tori | Tuesday, October 28, 2014 at 10:46 AM
My grandmother who lives next door has a walnut tree (she used to have 2). Each year the kids and I pick up the walnuts off the ground and dispose of them for her. Ever since I saw the first post about how Granny makes her baskets I think of her as I pick up walnuts, and more walnuts, and more walnuts! Haha. I have wondered if I should save them for you all but I'm glad to hear you have some close by.
Posted by: Joanna D. | Thursday, October 30, 2014 at 05:03 AM
That's a lot of walnuts. Do you get to eat the nuts as well as use the shells? Or are the nuts no good?
Beautiful basket
Posted by: Nic | Friday, October 31, 2014 at 03:16 AM