if anyone wonders, "how was the hazelnut harvest in Eastern Bohemia last autumn?"
i can say, "it was pretty okay." (as compared to the previous years that were lacking rainfall.)
my grandma usually harvested hazelnuts last weekend in August.
she didn't mind if some hazelnuts were eaten by squirrels or spotted nutcrackers...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_nutcracker
but she feared raids of human infants going to/from school in September.
thus she used to conduct hazelnut harvest before the new school year starts.
i believe nowadays kids are rather focused on virtual reality and don't give a shit about real-life hazelnuts on trees.
however, i still try to follow the family tradition set by my grandma.
thus i harvested hazelnuts on August 30th (last year).
when a rainbow appeared in the sky (look closely on the first pic!) in the evening of August 30th, 2020, i thought, "time to harvest hazelnuts!"
btw. if you wonder, "what's the "tower" on the pics?" then i have to say, "my manor neighbors with a local firemen station and, in the "tower", the local volunteer firefighters use to dry their hosepipes."
after i started the harvest (in the evening), soon, the rainbow handed over the symbolic rule over the harvest to the (nearly full) moon.
i expect not everyone is familiar with the procedure of hazelnut harvest.
so, the steps are as follows.
1/ first, you have to notice some hazelnuts on the branches.
obviously, it is preferable to do this during the daylight.
2/ second, you have to hoard all the picked hazelnuts in the basket.
3/ then you have to place the basket next to the spot where you accumulate your organic waste (hazelnuts have to be unhusked).
4/ next to the basket is usually placed the chair (it is more comfortable to do the unhusking while sitting).
5/ on the basket, you have to place a low slat box (hazelnuts have to dry before they are stored).
(the last pic portrays the organic waste of the hazelnut harvest — the residue of unhusking.)
btw. the spot where i store organic waste is occasionally visited by a local hedgehog who likes to take a nap among all the rotting rubbish.
snapshot from 2016
but back to the harvest.
(as i already said) August 30, 2020, was a magic evening reigned by the moon.
as i was unhusking the hazelnuts, i noticed the moon became very playful.
1/ first, it was hiding among the roses i grow.
2/ then, it was hiding behind the fence (that delimits the boundaries of my estate).
3/ it even tried to hide behind my chair.
but don't be mistaken, hazelnut harvest is not some ethereal (poetic) activity without any tangible (sublunary) benefit!
after you pick, unhusk, and dry hazelnuts, you can finally crack them and eat them.
and if you grow two types of hazelnuts (ochre and reddish) and while they are drying on a slate box you mix them thoroughly (thus having no clue anymore if the particular hazelnut was picked from "ochre" tree or "reddish" tree), then cracking each hazelnut is a positively suspenseful activity.
it's fun cracking hazelnuts if you don't know in advance if reddish or ochre hazelnut is inside.
btw., both types of hazelnuts taste the same.
the difference between reddish and ochre hazelnuts is purely esthetic.
i grow less reddish hazelnuts and thus they seem exceptional.
but if i would grow fewer ochre hazelnuts my perception of exceptional/common would be exactly the opposite.
