First Filberts To Fall

The first filberts of the season have hit the ground.
This handful is already more hazelnuts than last years crop! The Stellar’s Jay birds and gray squirrels can pilfered the entire harvest last year.
This year, the solar electronic animal deter device seems to be working. A few Stellar’s Jays have flown in from the far side of the shop and landed in the top of the trees to swipe a few of the nuts, but so far the thievery  has been minimal.
I don’t want to encourage squirrels with a bounty of readily available filberts, so the collection of fallen nuts will be a twice a day exercise to keep the tempting nuts off the ground (the dogs will sneak in to get their fill, but they assist in bird and squirrel raids so I will accept the loss of pilfered nuts as their payment for their work). Harvested filberts will be placed on trays to begin the drying process. In my spare time, I will be cracking the nuts to remove the shell and when they are completely dry, will be freezing them to keep them fresh for use throughout the year.