Walnuts are harvested much like almonds. The vehicle that goes down between the rows of trees has sweepers and blowers in front of each of the four tires. It also has a long vise-like grip that clamps onto the tree trunk and gives the tree a vigorous shake. Those little specks you see in the picture are the walnuts falling as the tree is been shaken. The sweepers and blowers at each tire clears away the fallen walnuts so as not to crush them as the vehicle moves from tree to tree. Then the walnuts are swept into piles and vacuumed up by another vehicle. A large conveyor is used to load the walnuts into open top trailers. The recent wind and rain storm we had sure left unharvested walnuts all over the ground. One farmer told me that if it continued to rain the walnuts could get moldy inside the shells and not fit to sell. But luckily different varieties of walnuts are harvested at different times. (Just click on the picture for a larger view).
