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Off the Grid/Homesteading Skills:  First Time I Saw a Hedge Apple  |
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AnnieinIdaho
True Blue Farmgirl
437 Posts
Annie
ID
USA
437 Posts |
 Posted - Dec 03 2011 : 1:18:36 PM
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Hi Sisters,
Ha...some of you will laugh. I'm nearly 60 years old and I just saw a Hedge Apple for the first time on a recent trip to Salina, KS. There are a rows of these trees in outlying areas of town. I was so curious about them and also saw a great stand up close at the telephone museum in Abilene near the Dwight Eisenhower Presidential Museum and Libray. I am curious one by nature and inquired as to what I had seen. Evidently,(and many of you probably are already aware of this) they are useful as an insect repellent to ward of spiders and ants. I imagine left on the ground surrounding one's property not much would venture through the thick thickets of branches and decaying fruit. I was so interested in learning about what a hot fire the wood of this tree produces and some articles have been written on how its is more efficient than coal. I have found a simple and concise website about the Hedge Apple Tree aka Osage-Orange that summerizes it usefulness. http://www.treeboss.net/Osage-Orange.htm There are more complex articles on the internet. It was fun to see such an interesting tree. I had originally thought it was a breadfruit tree, but I was incorrect with that. If I were living in Kansas I would have a wood burning stove and a stack of this wood. I would use the fruit as insect deterents in my yard and outbuildings. What a cool natural gift from nature. For now I am living too structured (not by my design) in a retirement community. Best to you, Annie in Henderson |
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nubidane
True Blue Farmgirl
2878 Posts
Lisa
Georgetown
OH
2878 Posts |
Posted - Dec 03 2011 : 1:55:10 PM
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Annette
So funny!!
Come here to my house & I could thrill you all day long!!
We are LOADED with them!
Welcome to MJ's! There are some great gals here. |
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jessabelluh
True Blue Farmgirl
349 Posts
Jessica
South Dakota
USA
349 Posts |
Posted - Dec 03 2011 : 2:24:42 PM
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I love the look of the Osage Oranges, but have never seen the tree that they grow on. I buy them from a local farmer's market.
~jess |
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StrawHouseRanch
True Blue Farmgirl
1044 Posts
Paula
Holt
Missouri
USA
1044 Posts |
Posted - Dec 03 2011 : 4:49:50 PM
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Come on out to Missouri and find hoards of them. If you want to pay the shipping costs, we'll send them to you for free next year!! ;-)
Paula
Farmgirl Sister #3090
Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery, and Today is a Gift.
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Amie C.
True Blue Farmgirl
2099 Posts
Finger Lakes Region
NY
2099 Posts |
Posted - Dec 04 2011 : 07:12:50 AM
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| I'd never heard of a "hedge apple" before so I clicked on the link to find out more about them. When I saw the picture, I immediately realized that I'd seen one of these things before on my college campus 15 years ago. I guess it's true that once you've seen a hedge apple/monkey ball you never forget it, even if you don't have a clue what it is. |
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sonshine4u
Chapter Guru
1205 Posts
April
New Prague
MN
USA
1205 Posts |
Posted - Dec 04 2011 : 12:10:19 PM
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LOL! Oh my goodness! This post is awesome! I grew up in that area you visited and we would chuck those hedge apples at each other on hayrack rides and such. They're everywhere in Kansas! Planted to help control erosion and for excellent wind breaks. The tree lines are like mile markers!!!
I can't remember if it was on here or another place in cyberland where someone decorated for a wedding with them and it was absolutely beautiful! I could hardly believe it! All these years I just passed them up as weird things lying in the road.
And then to find out that they are a great insect deterrent, well...I think I need to write home and let all my friends know the marvels that are in their hedgerows!! Not to mention the excellent wood burning potential!!!! Awesome!
Playing in the Sonshine
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MEWolf
True Blue Farmgirl
358 Posts
Margaret
Byers
Colorado
USA
358 Posts |
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star-schipp
True Blue Farmgirl
942 Posts
Starletta
Middletown
Indiana
USA
942 Posts |
Posted - Dec 06 2011 : 11:02:43 AM
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oh yes, the hedgeapples are wonderful as insect repellant -- but beware, this tree becomes invasive and has some very nasty thorns that puncture lawn mower tires (don't even ask how many tires we have had to replace)
If you can't feed one hundred people, then just feed one. -Mother Teresa
Star - farmgirl sister #1927
Master Food Preserver |
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FieldsofThyme
Farmgirl Guide & Schoolmarm / Chapter Leader
4928 Posts
USA
4928 Posts |
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Rosemary
True Blue Farmgirl
1825 Posts
Virginia
USA
1825 Posts |
Posted - Dec 20 2011 : 7:49:12 PM
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| Osage Orange trees grow all around here in Virginia. We even have several large old ones in the county's largest town, in the older parts of town. I like to gather up the least damaged fallen ones to keep in a big basket on the front porch. on window sills (the way they use lavender bundles in Provence to keep out scorpions, and just to look at. I'm not aware that the trees have thorns, though. Maybe there are different varieties in different parts of the country. I also doubt ours are invasive; I've seen single ones in the center of huge abandoned pastures. You'd expect to see more if there were prone to spreading. BTW, I never eaized that "hedge apples" and Osage Orange were the same thing. That's another reason to think there might be slightly different kinds. They're so interesting, aren't they? |
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AnnieinIdaho
True Blue Farmgirl
437 Posts
Annie
ID
USA
437 Posts |
Posted - Dec 26 2011 : 12:06:38 AM
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| Interesting....they use lavender bundles to ward off scorpions? I had no idea, but living in the desert in Nevada that is most useful information. And yes, the Hedge Apple trees we saw did have very long and big thorns. They were a very old stand of trees and had offshoots making a hedge dense and woody. It is a tree that could be used as a backdrop for a great illustrated story. I'm winding down from the holiday festivities. ..."nothing is stirring, not even a mouse" well, my computer mouse is still awake at the midnight hour. Happy New Year! |
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rough start farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
3331 Posts
marianne
The Beautiful Pacific NW
Washington State
USA
3331 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2012 : 06:51:46 AM
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I had forgotten about hedge apples. We lived in Kansas for a few years about ten years ago and the hedge apple was a welcome surprise. our horses loved them. We were warned that the horses could choke on the apples and tried to cut them up for them, but they would find them on their own and chomp right through what we were unable to slice!! So, we let nature take its course...and our palomino just loved them. They were so beautiful, the form and color!!
Thanks for the reminder!
Marianne |
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Miss Bee Haven
True Blue Farmgirl
4331 Posts
Janice
Louisville/Irvington
Kentucky
USA
4331 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2012 : 06:58:05 AM
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Thanks for the link, Annette. I'll check it out. We've got lots of them on our place in Irvington, KY, too. My son parked his car under one early on in our experience and of course, we heard the loud crash from the second floor of the old house as an overripe hedge apple exploded the windshield of his car! The carpenter who is making bookshelves for me has asked for any/all dead wood we may need cut off those trees, b/c he says its super strong for making furniture.
Farmgirl Sister #50
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?"
'Br.Dave Gardner' |
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AnnieinIdaho
True Blue Farmgirl
437 Posts
Annie
ID
USA
437 Posts |
Posted - Jan 26 2012 : 9:56:02 PM
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| I am glad this is of interest. I did read that they are toxic to eat for humans. I am amazed the horses didn't get sick. There is research being done on using some of the fruits properties as food perservative and that there is also an antioxidant benefit hidden away in the fruit or skins. I am not knowledgeable in who is doing the research. Goodness, a horse eating a hedge apple! |
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Lainey Lou
True Blue Farmgirl
158 Posts
Lainey Lou (Elaine)
Marietta
Ga
USA
158 Posts |
Posted - Feb 01 2012 : 11:09:41 AM
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(I'm new to this, so forgive me if I am going about this incorrectly.)
I'm am a new sister and I was just looking around and came across this and since I didn't know what a hedgeapple was I started looking at it, and I realized that what y'all are calling a hedgeapple is what I have always been told was a bois d'arc tree. I grew up in Texas and have never known it by any other name, I wonder which one is the correct name?!? Regardless I never knew they would get rid of spiders, I'll have to get someone in Texas to send me some and try it out. We have those little 'no-see-um' spiders everywhere that I would like to persuade to live elsewhere! Thanx for the info. 
... well shucks ya'll, as long as we're all here we might as well dance ! |
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Off the Grid/Homesteading Skills: First Time I Saw a Hedge Apple |
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First Time I Saw a Hedge Apple
