Deer eating honey locust pods
Our new core homestead
is very
rich in honey locusts.
Despite the fact that our septic crew cleared several away while moving
the trailer in, just as many big trees are left, and I suspect autumn
will continue to see the ground covered in these big pods for the
foreseeable future.
Books tell me that livestock and even
Native Americans relished the sweet pod insides. And yet, they sat untouched
on our ground through November and December and January.
It took a February snow to prove that somebody finds them tasty. Sunday
morning, a herd of deer moved through, carefully picking pod after pod
off the ground. I guess the wildlife were just saving honey locusts for
a midwinter treat.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Wow what a great shoot. I've heard that the seed pods are edible and can also be fermented to make alcoholic beverages, not that I plan to try it anytime soon. My grandma has a honey locust in her yard but I've never tried eating the pods.
JenW~
Nibbling on the pulp that surrounds the seeds is surprisingly good! When I see pods on the ground I always look for a juicy one, the pulp can be squeezed out for just a taste. There are even supposed to be some good cultivars out there.
I've tried brewing with them too. The result was so full of tannens that it made your throat itch. I'm going to try scraping the pulp or next time.