Not My Idea

  Years and years ago, I convinced Mark to drag himself through some heavy underbrush to dig up a buckeye tree that was growing in the woods.  With shovel in hand, he beat his way through the thick undergrowth to where I had seen the small sapling.  What a husband!  To this day, that small tree is growing in the yard.  It gathers a good bit of interest although, I am not sure it was the brightest move to plant it here.  It seems that most parts of the tree are pretty poisonous to humans, some animals and even some insects.  Why is that darn tree so pretty???  This morning as I was out preparing for winter (or at least a bit of cold weather), I noticed that the buckeye seeds were dropping to the ground. I made a mental note to gather the seeds soon.  It did not happen today...won't tomorrow...probably not the next day but, hopefully, will once this rain stops.   I gather the nuts, not to eat but so they will not sprout and make a bunch more of the trees.  I wanted one...not a dozen.

  One interesting little legend attached to the buckeye seed was told to me by Granddad.  Whether this tidbit of information is true or not remains to be seen but it is quite curious.  It seems that Native Americans used to gather the buckeye nuts by the basketful and dump them in creeks or ponds.  The saponins that make the nuts poisonous, would leach into the water and cause the fish to die.  The hunters would then gather the dead fish to use as food.   It never dawned on me as kid but, today, I am not sure that I would want to eat a fish that was poisoned!  

  The toxicity of the nuts or seeds changes from one "professional" to the next.  Some say they are safe to eat if leached through water, others say that the nuts will surely kill you!  Personally, if there is any uncertainty at all, it is best not to ingest any and I am sure not going to kill fish with them!  That just does not seem right at all!