Going Nuts for Your New Favorite Pastime

“We often consider nature to be something outside of where we live, but nature is in the parking lot and the tiny strips of green in our cities, too.”

The three lockdowns in the UK were long, folks. Like we are talking 9+ months long. That was 9+ months of no bus, no train, no exercising outside of a 5-mile radius of your house.  My normal favorite outdoor activities of backpacking, mountain biking, camping, skiing, and swimming were reduced to one activity and one activity only: walking. I have walked the Appalachian Trail worth of miles around the very small city of Chichester. That is not an exaggeration. It is a true Fitbit-verified fact. 

At first, we were only permitted one walk a day. I don’t know if it was cherishing the outdoors that much more since my access was being restricted, or if it was the sheer amount of time I spent walking past the same trees and plants, but I really started to notice my surroundings in a way I never had before.

My hikes and walks in the past had been more centered on the epic views, or getting from one point to another. However, Chichester is flat. There is nowhere to climb to for a view. The purpose of my walks became solely to enjoy and observe. As the seasons changed I became increasingly interested in the plants I saw, and would bring a notebook with me to describe trees I wanted to know about. I collected leaf and nut samples. Laundry day was consistently a rediscovery of all I had stored in my pockets that week. I did a lot of searching on British naturalists websites. Then I bought myself a “Trees of Britain” book, which is how I found my ultimate lockdown outdoor activity: nutting.

Yes. I became a complete nutjob who went totally nuts for nutting. Ah, I crack myself up. But truly, all I could think about for several months was nuts. All I wanted to do was find more nuts, and all I wanted to talk about was nuts. My counselor at one point said, “Fi, I think we should talk about what’s been happening other than collecting nuts in the car park.” How dare she. Absolutely nothing important was happening other than nut collecting! 

You may be thinking, yeah I get the nut thing, you seem like a real wingnut. I won’t try to argue that I’m not, but hear me out on why it’s so great. 

Like I said, it can really give you a sense of place to notice and know the trees and plants that surround us. We often consider nature to be something outside of where we live, but nature is in the parking lot and the tiny strips of green in our cities, too. Not only did it give me so much excitement to know about the trees in my area, but my other half found my new knowledge to be attractive. What a nerd, am I right? 

Aside from wooing folks with your forest facts, it’s just straight up fun. Have you ever enjoyed a treasure hunt, or an Easter egg hunt, or geocaching, or playing one of those board games where you collect gems or cards, or that Pokemon Go game? Then trust me, you will like nutting. Spotting good nut trees is the ultimate treasure hunt. I brought bags on every walk, and the best walks were when my backpack was heavy on the way home.

Not only do you get the joy of collection (though some people may only find your knowledge of trees sexy and for some inexplicable reason not your ginormous nut collection that begins to overtake the pantry), you also get a boon of free nuts! If you are anything like me, you may have spent too much of your paycheck at one point or another on nuts, or nut butters, or cookies made out of nut flour because - yum.

Before I moved to England, I was working as a ski instructor and was addicted to the quart boxes of chestnuts they sold at Whole Foods for the cost of your firstborn child. It was not a great combination. This past year however, I made all the chestnut dishes I ever dreamed of making for zero dollars, thanks to three reliable chestnut trees I found within a mile of my flat. One even happened to be in the parking lot of our building, and if the neighbors thought I was strange for scouring the tarmac everyday and shoving my pockets full of nuts, well, it’s Britain so no one said anything.

I can tell fall is coming early here in the UK, because there’s a chill in the breeze and I am seeing hazelnuts much earlier than last year. The thrill the sight of hazelnuts hanging in beautiful clusters gives me is exceedingly high and may need to be checked out by a medical professional, but hey. I hope your fall can be as nuts as mine is going to be!