i tried to respond before, i assume youre talking about black walnuts, since english dont require a car .
as uncle will said, they are ripe when they hit thre ground, remember the gren husk is the outside, of the seed, and the nut is protected by it , so even if the husk looks nasty, the nut is usually still good,
i put an old sheet on the ground to collect the nuts ,
and a hammer and flat rock cracks the nuts nicely
black walnuts cinnamon and raisins make the best yeast raised sweet rolls in gods green earth ...
use the small broken bits of nuts and add them to a largish jar of olive oil , the more nut meats the better, i use about 4 ++cups of nut meats in a 2 1/2 gallon jug shake it regularly, and in a month or so youll have deliciously flavored oil , use in baked cakes (((TIP home made from scratch cakes are moister if you use oil instead of margarine or shorteneing, and no trans fats )))) and brownies
or for salald oil for vinagretter dressing, that with homemade raspberry vinegar, youll have a sald dressing the neighbors will envy
they also sell crackers for black walnuts, for about 60.00, which to my mind is way too expensive