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Show WASATCH MOUNTAIN SPECIES IT’S TIME OF THE TIMES MONTH FOR By Pamela Mills Poulson Manager of Environmental Education Red Butte Garden and Arboretum - orning Star stooped and withdrew the last bundle of rich pinyon nuts her clan had gathered last fall at Bears Ears Mountain, four days walk from her village. If she ground the nuts to meal, she could stretch her lodge’s food supply until the moon of melting snows. Then, Biscuit Root, Spring Beauty, Glacier Lily, Indian Potato and cattail root would provide spring’s vegetable fare. For 3 months, her tribe had depended upon pinyon nuts—the food that grows on trees. Last fall’s harvest had been an average one, but much better than the year before, when Morning Star’s mother had died, despite the medicine man’s treatments with pinyon pollen and green needle tea. She had been gently laid to rest, face smeared with pitch, and what nuts could be spared for her travels in the hereafter. Her mother had taught her to watch the tops of pinyon trees for cones that grew woody and full of nuts after two years of good rains. This harvest had been located over a year and a half ago. Morning Star’s entire tribe had made the long, walk and harvest. Plump cones had been knocked from trees with sticks and tossed into the fire for drying. Each cone scale, when dried, curled back and revealed the treasure nestled within: two brown nuts. The children had scavenged open cones and loose nuts from the ground. The sticky pitch had been rubbed from hands and arms with animal fat. or many hundreds of years this | prevailed in western North America, where pinyons range across dry, rocky foothills. Pinyon nuts were especially suited for winter food because of their high content of protein, fat and carbohydrates. || . Pinyon nuts were an essen- tial part of the winter meal—sometimes the only component. The success of the pinyon nut harvest could mean life or death. Pinyon nuts species found the Sagebrush Pinyon (Pinus in western Utah Great Basin; (Pinus come from two pine growing just above Zone: Single-needle monophylla), found and throughout the and Two-needle edulis), Utah, and Plateau. The found across two Pinyon in the eastern Colorado species are easily distinguished by their needle arrangement and range. Natural hybridization occurs where the two ranges meet. Both species form a characteristic pinyon/juniper woodland community with the Utah Juniper (Juniperus osteopserma). Both species of pinyon produce nuts, but the nut of P. edulis has a higher fat content and is thus tastier. loday, “store bought” pinyon nuts aes the shell are relatively inexpensive, but shelled nuts are expensive because they must be shelled by hand. If you crave pesto (developed by Romans with nuts of Italian Stone Pine, P. pinea) you may wish to harvest your own pinyon nuts. But har- vesting is hard, messy work. After first frost, around Labor Day, collect a ladder, rakes, drop cloths and gunny sacks. Wear clothes and gloves you intend to throw away — the pitch is nearly impossible to remove. If you do get pitch on your skin, use coldcream, cooking oil, or borax powder for removal. Collect closed brown cones. (Open cones have dispensed their nuts.) Place a tarp on the ground and rake the cones out of the tree. Use gunny sacks or other “breathable fabric” as containers. Do not break off branches to get at cones. A mediocre harvest can be had by shaking the nuts out of open cones still hanging on the tree. A poor harvest can be expected from picking up nuts or cones that have fallen to the ground. In a good year, pine nutting can continue into November. To get nuts out of the cones, spread them in the sun to dry or bake on a cookie sheet in a 250degree oven until the scales pop Also Known As: Pinus edulis: pinyon, nut pine, Indian nut pine, Colorado Pinyon Pine. P. monophylla: singleleaf pinyon, nut pine, Great Basin Pinyon. Description: Straggling tree that often becomes as open as an old apple tree, forming a broad pyramid-shaped crown in young trees and later becoming round-topped. The trunk often crooked and much twisted; bark irregularly furrowed and broken into small scales. Old bark yellowish-brown to reddish brown. Height: Up to 40 feet tall, but usually much smaller. Trunk diameter: Up to 3 feet. Range and Distribution: P. edulis— In the Colorado plateau region of southwest Wyoming, eastern Utah, western Colorado and northern Arizona. P. monophylla — throughout the Great Basin, southern Idaho, northern and western Utah, northwestern Arizona, across Nevada to eastern California. Preferred Site: dry rocky slopes of desert mountain 4,000 to 8,000 feet elevation. @ open. Although nuts may be eaten raw, roasting brings out a full nutty flavor. For storage, freeze the nuts after roasting. Store in a cool dark place. family can gather up to 25 pounds of nuts at no cost. Commercial permits are required to harvest pinyon nuts for resale or for harvesting in excess of 25 pounds. For local permit requirements, contact regional BLM and Forest Service offices. If left on the tree, some cones do not drop their nuts until the middle of winter, becoming a midwinter ranges, from bonus for birds and small mammals. Pinyon nuts are a main source of food for game birds, jays, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks. They are even sometimes eaten by coyotes and black bears. loday’s human nibblers, sitting in front of a cozy fire or watching T.V., enjoy the taste of delicious pinyon nuts. So did the Native Americans of ancient times as they sat before their fires. To them, these nutritious nuts were more than snack food. For generations, pinyons a main source of food, medicine ceremony. @ were and |
