El Pueblo "Almond Harvest"

Dear citizens of the world,

Almond harvest time has come and gone. We spent a couple days in the pueblo, collecting almonds. It is hard work, but I like it -- well, once a year.

This is a photo of the almonds while they are still on the tree with both the outer soft shell and the inner hard shell (as seen in the first picture above).

Why is collecting them fun? The process starts by laying large nets under the tree, then I get to use a long stick to whack the tree until it gives up all its' almonds. End of fun part...

Then the outer shells have to be taken off (sometimes not so easy). There is then a drying-out period and the last leg is to break the hard inner shell to get the "almond meat" out... careful to not crush the almond in the process.

Eat and enjoy all year long. The harvest this year has been bad because there was not enough rain. Many almonds are "fruitless." And a violent downpoor at the end of the season stripped some trees of the fruit just before harvest time - as well as killing one of the locals.

Now we have to prepare to use the almonds to make Mazapan - the traditional Christmas sweet from Toledo, Spain.

A shot of the almond tree in bloom this spring.

I leave you with this parting shot of the sunset over the almond trees in the pueblo after a long, hard day in the fields.

The United Statesian