Mesquite thorns are a pain in the ass. REALLY a pain in the ass if you sit on one. I never sat on one, but I've had them stuck in my feet and my legs, and they are poisonous, so it makes a bruise and it hurts terribly for a long time, even if you pull it out right away.
Mesquite beans make good cattle food, but it's better if you grind them up, because if you don't the cows poop them right back out just like they went in, (they go poop-planting, the cows do...) and then you get too many mesquite trees. Some mesquite trees are good, too many in one place are not good. Kinda like people.
If you're not a lazy person, you can gather the bean pods about this time of year and dry the beans and grind them up and make tortillas or something, or you could just eat them, if you were starving. If that gives you a tummy ache (which it probably will) the leaves are good to cure it. :)
Dried mature mesquite wood is good to cook with, but a little goes a long way. If you get too much mesquite smoke, it makes things taste really bitter.
Sometimes before the end of winter, the weather gets warm and tricks the other trees into budding, and then it freezes again. The mesquite trees NEVER bud until after the last freeze. Once they bud, you can be absolutely certain it isn't going to freeze again.
Never knew about the cows and the poop or making tortillas or budding after a frost, but I know you could use them for smoking (who never heard of a mesquite barbeque?) and I heard they were poisonour. You is a font of information dere gurl.
Love how you made some things out of focus so the branch pops, looks more like a photo that way.
Well, my Daddy says the bean pods pretty much have to go through an animal before the beans will make trees, because the bean pod is too hard and they don't release the seeds, otherwise. I also know that you can use the bark for an antiseptic/antibacterial... and there's probably stuff about them that I don't know. I know the indians found a bazillion uses for every part of the tree (I think they even made pottery paint with part of the tree.)
We had a tree like this in the back yard only it had these small orange (like ornamental ones) that smelled like oranges, looked like oranges, no I didn't taste them but had thorns on them 2 inches long. Not fun in the foot. I dunno what they were but this reminded me of them. Not the same leaves either. I named it the thorn tree of doom while it stood. Have pictures somewhere. LOL I like this pic though. Very very realistic. :D
hah... art diety... that was truly funny. I have this thing about doing things people tell me I can't do... as I said, my Daddy says they have to go through an animal before they will sprout, and there are tons of mesquites in this area, on the ranches near here, but there are no mesquites on the land directly around my house. I brought mesquite bean pods home from my Mammy's ranch, and I am DETERMINED to plant them and make them grow without cows. (the ones I didn't eat... they said don't eat them you'll get sick and I DIDN'T... I have been dying to eat them since I was little :) I have to do this, and I will NOT FAIL. ( and if I do, you people will be the the first ones to know :)
solve: yes, and they introduced this "weed, shrub, tree"... nobody knows what to call it, really... into Kenya, and even the Africans complained that the thorns caused caused "harm" to the people and livestock. I have suffered some of the most painful things in life, but when you get these thorns in you... you know you're "wounded"... it hurts in the worst way. I think the benefits of the plant far outweigh the detriments... the roots will search until they find water in a drought, and survive when nothing else will, and they are capable of sustaining animal and human life. What more can you ask for?
It's not gonna work if my Daddy says it won't, but I'll be damned if I don't try, anyway. thanks. :)
(if I wanted to be deceitful, I could always scoop up a couple of cow patties from there and throw them in my yard here, and WALLAH!) ;)
Y'know, I never commented on this, but I keep going back to it and staring at it for a bit. So I thought it deserved a comment.
I'm not a big commenter, but if something makes me say something out loud then I usually do comment. However, despite the fact that I had no vocal outbursts, I still really love this and I thought you should know that.
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If you're not a lazy person, you can gather the bean pods about this time of year and dry the beans and grind them up and make tortillas or something, or you could just eat them, if you were starving. If that gives you a tummy ache (which it probably will) the leaves are good to cure it. :)
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a hickurban-ly challenged. :)Love how you made some things out of focus so the branch pops, looks more like a photo that way.
i like this.
Nice depth in this picture. Also, the thorny branch stands out nicely against the green.... uh... thingies?
solve: yes, and they introduced this "weed, shrub, tree"... nobody knows what to call it, really... into Kenya, and even the Africans complained that the thorns caused caused "harm" to the people and livestock. I have suffered some of the most painful things in life, but when you get these thorns in you... you know you're "wounded"... it hurts in the worst way. I think the benefits of the plant far outweigh the detriments... the roots will search until they find water in a drought, and survive when nothing else will, and they are capable of sustaining animal and human life. What more can you ask for?
(if I wanted to be deceitful, I could always scoop up a couple of cow patties from there and throw them in my yard here, and WALLAH!) ;)
I'm not a big commenter, but if something makes me say something out loud then I usually do comment. However, despite the fact that I had no vocal outbursts, I still really love this and I thought you should know that.