Sigh...I am currently reading "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson. I never read it before. It lists the decimation people rained down on our ecosystems,all in the hopes to control some problem or another. Which in the end caused more problems that it started with. I am sad because it is still going on. Spraying for mosquitos in Texas, daily use of lawn chemicals. Now cutting down trees because someone might have an allergic reaction. All that is doing is teaching her child they are helpless in the face of an oak tree. Meanwhile the hundreds of animals that rely on the tree are doomed. Sometimes I just want to bury my head in the sand.

I need some cheer,
Elisabeth

As the article says, an allergic person has to eat nuts to have an anaphylactic reaction. There are many plants out there that might give you a mild rash is you rub the leaves or other parts of it on your skin, so to eliminate that "danger" would be to eliminate practically everything.
The article and the woman are so 'nutty' I think it should have been published in The Onion. If it's serious, what a pathetically wimpy, whiny, little-picture, short-sighted country we live in!

And I need some cheer, too, Elisabeth.

Sherry

On the + side Sherry, the article is about a woman in Canada, not the US.

Well, that's something to cheer about, KC! :)

Sherry

First off I didnt read the article. All through elementery,Jr.high and high school I was surrounded by majestic live oaks. It never ocurred to me to eat the acorns. And beleive you me, we try to think of a way to cook and eat anything down here in Houma,La.

I find some of the mentality today totally ludicrous. This is one example.

Actually, according to everything I've read about the native Americans - I have to be sure and call them native Americans or somebody might call me a racist like that angry poster from the Houston area! - DID eat them. And live oak acorns, being sweet like white oak acorns, which they may be, were prized. According to my old Encyclopedia Britannica, there were even native Americans in California who were called 'acorn gatherers' because acorns were their principle food - they pounded them into a flour and made porridge and bread. The southeastern native Americans roasted their acorns. Hopefully, none of them had nut allergies, or they'd have to eliminate an important food source! :/

Sherry

Growing up, I always heard that acorns were poisonous to people. Because of you, Sherry, I did some reading and now know that Emory oak and Oregon white oak are the oaks I need in case I need to easily live off acorns. That said, they are not in Ohio so Burr oak is what I need to look for. I think I would prefer some English walnut trees though.

There is a great book my DH took out of the library this summer on wild edibles. I think the book was "Edible Wild Plants:" by Thomas Elias but not positive. The book was really good. Unlike most of these types of books, this one included scientific documentation of the edibility of plants. I get a little uncomfortable when the "experts" (namely my DH)claim it was eaten before by someone else. I am sure everything was tried by someone at one time.

Also, it explained how to prepare them. Often we try something and it is not edible and left out is the part on how to prepare them. Acorns fit this category. They are very bitter. So in the book it talked about having to soak acorns to remove the bitter flavor. Very interesting. I might try it sometime.

-Elisabeth

I have a good friend who suffers from many allergies. She asked one of her doctors why we have so many more allergies these days and he shared his theory. He thinks because so many of us rarely eat local that we aren't getting what we need to beset the allergies. Much of our canned foods originate in China, etc. Many children don't know where food comes from (the grocery, right?!) I was planting once when a neighbor kid came into my garden, sat on a rock and watched for a while. She asked me why I was burying the corn! she didn't have a clue.

Anyway, another reason we should all be eating local. I think that doctor is onto something.

PS. Elisabeth - Have you read 'Last Child in the Woods'? A very insightful book. I love Rachel Carson!

Organicmickie, I have not read "last Child in the Woods". I know of it though. I work closely with a lot of local parks people who work to educate children about the environment. They have started a local group based on the book to promote getting outside. I think it is too little too late. We have a whole generation that is afraid of the outdoors. Those kids who are lucky enough to roam free have nowhere to go. No woods, no fields, no ponds. Only housing platts, run-off ponds, strip malls, and manicured homeowner association greens. The area parks are trying very hard to set up more areas for kids to explore woods with playing areas. Unfortunately here in Ohio, with "No Child Left Behind", schools are spending every minute (okay that is an exaggeration but a lot of minutes) teaching to prepare for the tests. I have two children and the law came out in-between the two. There was a huge change in the classroom. There is very little free time to explore other areas of interest. Money is scarces so field trips are very limited. And I live in a wealthy district that prides itself on its schools. When my oldest in first grade went out in the woods with her class, the teacher made them put on latex gloves if they wanted to touch anything. Sigh...I have been thinking a lot about this lately because I go out to many conservation areas locally. I am dismayed at the lack of volunteer participation and lack of any push by groups to save wild areas. It is the work of a small cadre of people that are working to save our wild areas here. The same people, over and over.

Okay, sorry for the rant. Sometimes I just have to blow...

-Elisabeth

I hope I die before the day we all have to live in plastic bubbles. I would think the pollen would pose a greater danger than the acorns; but don't let on; we'll lose all of our trees. If a child is that allergic they shouldn't be in a public school, park, etc. Grrr.

Elisabeth - what part of Ohio are you in? I'm in Lebanon just a little north of Cincinnati.

Mickie

Latex gloves if you want to touch anything in nature???????????? Sad/funny part of that is many people are allergic to latex.

The teachers I avoid are the ones who think kids should be slathering on the hand sanitizer immediately after handling one of my caterpillars. I don't need my caterpillars being touched my alcohol-soaked hands.

Last 2 school years, I was not allowed to take my caterpillar show into one of my regular schools because of a kid that is allergic to "everything."

Mickie - I live in the Dayton area, so not far from you.

KC - The irony is that my kids and I do have a contact allergy to latex. However, it is not life threatening. So, I don't worry about it to the point of banning them from stuff. Just try to limit contact when possible.

Elisabeth