Appreciating Juglandaceae

There are black walnut trees all over downtown Traverse City neighborhoods. This tree does not appear to be native according to the US Forest Service: Juglans nigra L.


-Native range of black walnut

but it sure has naturalized itself wonderfully.

I've often thought about collecting these walnuts but was never sure about how they compared to the English variety you get in the store.

Supposedly they are wonderful as Hank from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook discusses at TheAtlantic: Black Gold: The Pleasures of a Hard-to-Crack Nut

Looks like I have a foraging project for next Fall!

The Liberator and Freedom of 78′: Pure Guava IPA

Two new bottles from Short's. Read about them at the ShortsBrewing.com: Short’s Liberator and Freedom of 78: Pure Guava IPA in bottles!

Culinary Tourism

The Record-Eagle has a story on an upcoming conference - Creating Michigan Culinary Destinations.

See: State trying to find right recipe for culinary tourism

This is a great start. What would be ideal is a Culinary landing page at the Pure Michigan site (michigan.org) where people looking for a taste of adventure could find wine trails, farmers' markets, and businesses offering food-based tours.