And Now For Walnuts

I am not yet done gathering, drying, cracking and packaging filberts when the walnut crop starts.
With the lack of rain, the nuts have already broken clean of their outer shells and are well on their way to already being dried. The nuts are good sized this year and plentiful.
I do have access to the family’s cracking machine, a relic that my father had made some 50 years ago, but I would rather crack and peel them by hand. I prefer large pieces of walnuts and although the cracking machine makes for quick work, many of the bigger pieces get broken in the process.
I try to crack them outside where flying bits of shell are not an issue. With of a bowl full of cracked nuts I can shell them at a comfortable pace while sitting at the dining room table.