Quote:
Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington
I know the berries weren't Deadly Nightshade........they are smaller, rounder and shiny, as you say....my dad used to take us on nature walks when we were children and he showed us belladonna and told us we should never eat it as it is poison.....he also told us that the Pendle witches used it in potions....he told us it was related to potatoes too(a mine of information - it is strange that I still remember al this stuff)
The berries that the children looked at, were olive shaped and about the same size....they had a bloom on them and were quite hard. I will take a little knife next time and cut one open and see what the inside looks like.
I wanted to let the children know that it was never a good idea to eat berries off trees if you don't know what they are........and told them they could get very sick if they ate something that was just for the birds....they wanted to know why the birds don't get sick. I told them...different digestion....and that the birds relied on berries for food through the winter months and that the bushes relid on the birds to transport their seed to other places(in their poo)...the all said eeeeewwwww....in unison.
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Quite right Margaret - it's a shame that these days more and more children are losing out on this kind of education as their entertainment needs require video games or expensive visits to theme parks. Then accidents happen. I remember spending an afternoon in Accy Vic when I came off my spacehopper and broke my ankle!
We had to wait for ages till I was seen because of an emergency, a group of childen had eaten laburnam seeds and were having to have their stomachs pumped!