Thursday, September 27, 2012

Mom, I Found Some Cactuses! Rural Thursday

Last weekend our neighbors were out of town, so I stopped by to check on their sweet lamb and make sure he had plenty of water and the fence was still on.  Pierce came along with me.
 While I was busy checking Jacob the Lamb's water, Pierce yelled, "Mom, I found some cactuses!"  I came over to investigate. 
 After explaining the plural of cactus, I told Pierce about how my grandparents had a chesnut tree in their front yard when I was little.  I showed him how to find the chesnut inside all the prickliness.
 We took a few back home, so that Pierce and his brothers could try them.  I told them about the tradition of roasting chesnuts during the holidays.  These had a few worms, so we had to work around that.  But Pierce really enjoyed getting to try his first chesnut.
It's Rural Thursday!  Time for you to link up your tales of the rural life with Nancy from A Rural Journal and myself.  Please copy the code beneath the button and paste it into your blog post.  Then come back and link up your url in the linky.  Don't forget to visit and comment on the blogs of at least 5 other participants today! 

47 comments:

The Cranky said...

Oh yum, I LOVE chestnuts!

Anonymous said...

How sweet! So much to learn for the little guys and it won't be long until they are singing that old Christmas song.

The Farmers Daughter said...

What a wonderful lesson for your boys! You're such a good Mom! And, I learned something, too--I've never seen chestnuts!

Anonymous said...

I would never have guess that there were chestnuts in those prickly fuzzy balls.

Buttons Thoughts said...

I have never tasted Chestnuts alas there are none on the farm but we have an abundant supply of black walnuts.
Love the lamb> B

Tanya Breese said...

we had a chestnut tree at our last house and dang, they ARE prickly!

Vores have said...

Nice fall pics you show:)
Hanne Bente

Jill said...

How fun to have "real" chestnuts! Great job, Lisa!

Barbara said...

We have these all over our yard and at the park. My son treats them like balls. I have no idea how to eat them, but I'm going to have to try.

Grandma Bonnie said...

What a neat lesson for your boys. That brings back memories. When my sisters and I were walking through a field to a friends house we ran a cross some cactus and thought it would be neat to bring them home. Needless to say we were covered in tiny spines by the time were arrived home. I hope you have a great day.

tiarastantrums said...

aww - I used to love to dig out the 'buckeye' when I was a child!

carol l mckenna said...

Love coming to your blog ~ Life seems lovely there ~ not perfect I am sure ~ welcome to life! ~ Handsome 'dude' photos and fun post ~ (A Creative Harbor)

Anonymous said...

Well you not only taught your son about Cactus...but me too!!! I didn't even know about chestnuts inside them!! Too funny.
Laurie @ prideinphotos

EG CameraGirl said...

I don't believe I would recognize the differences between a chestnut and a horse chestnut, which we have tons of here. The squirrels LOVE them.

Unknown said...

Hi Lisa, well, I learned something new today too! After all this time, and eating them, I didn't know where or how they grew. Thank God for blogging! Lol. Thanks for sharing!
Luv

TexWisGirl said...

i've never seen or tasted a chestnut. :)

Are We There Yet! said...

I miss having our own chestnuts. When we moved from 100 acres to less than one, we gave up a lot of things I now miss. But..... we have a lot less work.

Texan said...

We planted 6 chestnut trees this last spring. I mail ordered them. They were just little sticks when they arrived but so far 4 have lived!

An Apel a Day said...

I think it makes it so special to eat when they find it themselves. So yummy!

I love that lamb.

Tina Fariss Barbour said...

You gave the boys a great lesson! I can't eat chestnuts (allergic), but I think they're very pretty.

Leovi said...

I love chestnuts, beautiful pictures. Greetings.

Nancy said...

I don't think I've ever seen chestnuts in the husk (if that's the right term?) I learned something too. :)

Valerie Boersma said...

I've always loved chestnuts. We don't have a chestnut tree, but I scrounge them from people in town who do. They look pretty in bowls, set out as decorations too. It's cute that Pierce thought they were cactuses!

Lisa-I linked up with you today!! :)

Sandy said...

Yummy...I love chestnuts. How cute that he thought it was cactus.

Kranky Granny said...

Second time today I have seen a post on these chestnuts. I have always known them as buckeyes so I had to go to google. Learned that they look similar but are not the same. I have never seen them in this prickly layer before though.

learned something new today.

Anonymous said...

Lisa,

Thanks for coming by. I love your "cactuses" Would absolutely love to have some roasted chestnuts. They are delicious.

Yael from Home Garden Diggers

Debby@Just Breathe said...

What a cute little lamb. I had no clue about how the chestnuts arrive. I am learning along with Pierce!

Anonymous said...

What a fun discovery to share together.

Karen said...

Oh wow, what a find! I haven't seen those since I was a kid!

Lmkazmierczak said...

Had a chestnut tree growing up....always had to pick them up before mowing the lawn♪♪

Chatty Crone said...

You really are one great mom.

Lexie Loo, Lily, Liam & Dylan Too said...

That's so cool! Always a learning experience with kids!

Ellie said...

What a wonderful lesson for your boys - I can imagine that they loved it :))

Liz Mays said...

Now that is just plain fun! I'm glad they found the "cactus."

Carletta said...

Reading the comments as I scrolled down it always amazes me how others have never experienced some of the things that we ourselves take for granted. :)
Growing up we had a huge chestnut tree on our property. My Dad used to shell them for us. I loved them. I can sense the taste of them just thinking about it.
I love that Pierce compared them to a cactus - priceless.

Sunnybrook Farm said...

Glad that I saw this, I put some in the refrigerator last week and I need to plant them. I planted some a couple of years ago and now 2 of them have really grown beside our driveway. They can be a messy tree but I do like the nuts as do all of the animals. They are wormy though but a little extra protein is good I guess.

Unknown said...

How fun!

Angela said...

Cool! I remember finding a chestnut tree when I was younger. We went crazy and were eating them right off the ground. I probably ate the worms! lol Who knows? lol

Nancy said...

Thanks for hosting...love the story about the chestnuts. Would love to hear how you roasted them too. I'm a new follower, looking forward to more posts!

Nancy at livininthegreen.blogspot.com

Tweedles -- that's me said...

We have those chestnuts too!
And that sheep- we saw one like it at the wool festival last weekend!
so many interesting things that Mother Earth shares with us,
love
tweedles

Eat To Live said...

I need to buy some chestnuts. I love them roasted. When we were kids, we had a coal furnace and would roast them on the registers.

Marie said...

I've never eaten or seen a chestnut. Your boys have such wonderful adventures!

Kerri Farley said...

How Fun!

Self Sagacity said...

that is rural alright. a fun meme to see!

Anonymous said...

Too cute, love his comment... are these the edible ones??

Angela said...

Can't join your rural blog hop, since we farm right in the city, but we used to farm in rural Oregon before moving to Portland, so I'm a rural girl at heart. :). What a handsome Jacob. :)

jp@A Green Ridge said...

Nice lesson, Mom! Learning time is so much fun with kids!...:)JP