WheelEstate USA
Well-known member
I thought I was going to choke from laughing so hard. I'm still trying to dry my eyes.
Margie came in spitting and spewing with the worst look on her face you could imagine. "What's wrong, are you ok?", sez I.
Thru puckered lips she replied, "They looked so good".
"What the hell are you talking about???", I shot back, looking at her gruesome expression.
"Those freakin oranges on that tree over there, damnit!!!"
"Haven't I warned you not to eat anything off any plant without checking with me first??", I quarried in my best "fatherly" voice as she rinsed her mouth over the sink.
"Yes, but I thought they were oranges and it would be ok", she retorted.
"Honey, those are ornamental oranges and they are very bitter, not meant to eaten", I injected between the gargling and spitting.
"No shit they're not!!! Why would someone have them in their yard??", she sputtered.
"Colorful shade trees, I suppose", *a shrug*
"I'm glad I didn't try the lemon on the other tree then", *swigging soda*
"Well, you would have been better off if you had because you like grapefruit and that's what they are, and are edible", I suggested.
"They look like a big lemon tho", *perplexed look*
Well folks, they are indeed grapefruit, but dwarfed. They have an unusually thick rind and the meat is just smaller than a tennis ball. They are very good and really juicy.
I retrieved a couple, and tho she hesitated till I ate some, she likes them.
So...don't eat just anything you find growing anywhere unless you know exactly what it is. I'm very sure Margie won't ever again.
Here, in the desert there are things that are edible, and living here most of my life, I know most of them. At times we add some of them into our diet, such as, prickly pear fruits, saguaro fruits, yucca flower buds, and the pads of the nopal (related to prickly pear, but less thorny).
Be careful out there.
Margie came in spitting and spewing with the worst look on her face you could imagine. "What's wrong, are you ok?", sez I.
Thru puckered lips she replied, "They looked so good".
"What the hell are you talking about???", I shot back, looking at her gruesome expression.
"Those freakin oranges on that tree over there, damnit!!!"
"Haven't I warned you not to eat anything off any plant without checking with me first??", I quarried in my best "fatherly" voice as she rinsed her mouth over the sink.
"Yes, but I thought they were oranges and it would be ok", she retorted.
"Honey, those are ornamental oranges and they are very bitter, not meant to eaten", I injected between the gargling and spitting.
"No shit they're not!!! Why would someone have them in their yard??", she sputtered.
"Colorful shade trees, I suppose", *a shrug*
"I'm glad I didn't try the lemon on the other tree then", *swigging soda*
"Well, you would have been better off if you had because you like grapefruit and that's what they are, and are edible", I suggested.
"They look like a big lemon tho", *perplexed look*
Well folks, they are indeed grapefruit, but dwarfed. They have an unusually thick rind and the meat is just smaller than a tennis ball. They are very good and really juicy.
I retrieved a couple, and tho she hesitated till I ate some, she likes them.
So...don't eat just anything you find growing anywhere unless you know exactly what it is. I'm very sure Margie won't ever again.
Here, in the desert there are things that are edible, and living here most of my life, I know most of them. At times we add some of them into our diet, such as, prickly pear fruits, saguaro fruits, yucca flower buds, and the pads of the nopal (related to prickly pear, but less thorny).
Be careful out there.