Black Walnuts and Hickory

I meant to buy black walnuts and hickory from Sweet Spot Orchard last week at the Ann Arbor Farmers' Market but I was so focused on buying their asparagus that I completely forgot about the nuts. So when we went back today, we bought a pint of black walnuts and hickory (and asparagus and green onions). When we got home, we tried to crack the nuts open using our nutcracker...but they didn't give the slightest bit. I tried to break them open with my meat pounder but they still wouldn't crack open. Finally, Geoff took the nuts outside, placed them on our concrete steps, and used his hammer to break them open. We used our fingers to pull the meat from the shell and ate them right there on the steps. The nuts were delicious...sweet and full of flavor. Caroline loves nuts of all kinds and these were no exception. Unfortunately, I'm not sure when I will have a chance to crack the rest of the nuts so for now, they are sitting in a bowl on the kitchen counter.