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Prairie Folklore
by Wayne Pauly from Dane County Parks ACTION Adult Conservation Team Newsletter (All folklore stories)
Sharing Stories
I love it when these articles stimulate someone to share a reminiscence.
Recently, a fellow shared the fun he and his brother had with squirt guns made
from either angelica or
cow parsnip. He explained that the large stalks are chambered like
bamboo, so he and his brother took two foot sections, poked a hole in the
membrane at one end, filled it with water from the cattle trough, and squirted
it with a plunger made from a stick wrapped with a bit of fabric. From opposite
sides of the cattle trough, they battled with their limited range squirt guns
until both were soaked and probably weak with laughter.
Another man remembered using walnuts to capture earth worms. They’d lay an old
window screen on the lawn, cover it with walnut hulls, pour a couple buckets of
water over the the hulls, and when they lifted the screen the worms were popping
out and wiggling on the grass. Worms must really hate the taste of walnut hulls.