once they drop to the ground, they are ready for you to break them open, and roast them. check on line for roasting walnuts. you will be VERY pleasantly surprised by the freshness, over store bought, which were packed, shipped, and who knows, been in a warehouse for weeks!!
the walnut growers usually have big machines that will shake the trees, like the olive growers use, to make them fall off, then they use netting to catch them all. i think either the Discovery Channel or The Learning Channel had a show on this, at harvest times..
