Eating Locally in the Prairie Land

Persimmons

I was recently on the road in the prairie lands of the USA.  For a short period of time, I lived in the prairie lands of the USA with wind, snow, tornadoes, humidity -  all the best weather  you can think of.    It has been a long time since I have lived there, and it was nice to be back, albeit a short trip.  The prairie lands look the same - flat, and feels the same - windy.  The highways in the prairie lands outside of cities are usually 2 to 4 lane surface roads, long and straight, passing by farm after farm, and prairie land.  On some of the roads, of hundreds of miles driven on this trip, were persimmon trees.  We stopped the car, to feed my need to eat locally where ever I go.  I picked up some fallen persimmons to snack on while traveling in the area.

Persimmon Seeds

I learned something new about persimmons during this trip, and old farmer's wive's tale about the persimmon seeds.  If you are able to get locally grown persimmons, eat the very ripe, sweet and wrinkly ones (otherwise they are too tart), and save a few seeds.  Cut the seeds open and look the inside and see what shape you have.  The shape is a prediction of the winter to come.  If you see a spoon, it means you will have snow to shovel.  If you see a knife, you will have a bitter cold winter that will cut you like a knife.  If you see a fork, you will have a mild winter to feast on.  Some swear by this lore.  So, me and my co-worker with persimmon trees opened our local seeds, and we see spoons.  Last year, last winter, we had a mild winter, and summer started in February.  This year, with the spoon, we might get snow.  And, coincidentally, I checked into one of my favorite local meteorologist's facebook page, and he is predicting a snowy winter for Nashville starting soon.

I await winter, and see if the lore holds true for a snowy Nashville winter.

As for the prairie land seeds, they were spoons too.   Midwest, snow is forecasted for you again this winter.  That is all.