the black walnut has lost all it's leaves and nuts!

Lovely tree and a walnut too in your woods.

I have two black walnut trees which are near the house..not part of the wood per se...but near enough to appear to be so! The pictured tree is at the south end of our house, as is smaller of the two. I would guess that this tree produced about 400 nuts this year.

Do those green covers fall off or do you have to remove them Lori?

Usually by frost the covers...which smell like strong detergent...are mushy and the squirrels peel it off so that they can get a toothhold on the nutcase within. Humans must remove the rind and pulp. The pulp is very staining..it is used as a natural dye..with the right mordant I believe it produces a natural walnut stain or a bronze yellow on fabric. So you can imagine how a kitchen would look if you tried to do that part of the nut harvest there! Most of the work is done outdoors in kettles...which are filled with the nuts and water and brought to a boil...the liquid is removed and the nuts allowed to dry before shelling. The shells of the black walnut are very tough and dense. They are cut and used in folk jewellery..the geometry of the interior when the nut is cut laterally is quite pretty.