| Author | |
florasita
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 06 2007
Location: Canada
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 907
|
| Posted: Oct 04 2008 at 12:41pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
Ok what on earth are conkers  ?
I was reading the conker dragon craft and it calls for conkers . Of course they give the latin form of the word in brackets . like that helps
I am assuming it is a britsh term as the book was all year round I beleive .
So I thought this would be a great word for vocab and possibly nature study as from the pic it looks like a seed or nut of some kind .
Much love , Roxie
__________________
May I rise & rest with words of Gratitude on my Breath
May I have the Heart & Mind of a Child in my Depth
May I forever remember to be a Light
May Peace Love & Hope be My Sight
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JennGM
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 17702
|
| Posted: Oct 04 2008 at 1:35pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Conkers from Wikipedia. Has a nice picture, too.
__________________
Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
LucyP
Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 05 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 791
|
| Posted: Oct 04 2008 at 1:43pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Ooooh! My son LOVE conkers. They are soo pretty and shiny when freshly burst open from their prickly cases. They beg to be picked up and rubbed and admired. our city is full of horse chesnuts and at this time of year you hear them bumping onto cars as the cars drive up the road, and when it rains the squashed conkers go frothy on the roads. DS calls them bonkers though!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
hylabrook1
Forum Moderator
Joined: July 09 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5980
|
| Posted: Oct 04 2008 at 3:14pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Roxie -
Here is just one entry in an interesting website:
How to play conkers
Link Fairy - could please help this to work as a link? (I am challenged  : thanks)
Peace,
Nancy
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Mackfam
Board Moderator
Non Nobis
Joined: April 24 2006
Location: Alabama
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 14656
|
| Posted: Oct 04 2008 at 3:25pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I was standing here printing a 200 page document, Nancy! I fixed your link. 
__________________
Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Kathryn UK
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 27 2005
Location: England
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 924
|
| Posted: Oct 04 2008 at 5:06pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I'm doing a 100 Species Challenge and trying to research the different plants I find locally. This is what I wrote on my blog about conkers ...
"[Conkers] are high in carbohydrate. They can be crushed and boiled to make a meal for cattle and sheep, though apparently pigs will not eat it. Humans also find conkers unpalatable (I've tasted them and they are bitter and unpleasant!) but during World War I it was calculated that for every ton of horse chestnuts harvested to use for animal feed, half a ton of grain could be saved for human consumption. They were also collected by children to use for ammunition. And no, we weren't reduced to firing conkers at the enemy! Acetone was required to produce cordite (explosive), and a method was discovered by which the starch from horse chestnuts could be fermented to make acetone. The scientist behind this was Chaim Weizmann, who later became the first president of the State of Israel.
In autumn British children like to collect horse chestnuts for rather less lethal battles - games of "conkers". These rules are pretty similar to the way we used to play:
Quote:
| Each player has a their conker on its knotted string. Players take turns at hitting their opponent's conker. If you are the one whose conker is to be hit first, let it hang down from the string which is wrapped round your hand. That 9 inch drop is about right. You must hold it at the height your opponent chooses and you must hold it perfectly still. Your opponent, the striker, wraps their conker string round his hand just like yours. S/he then takes the conker in the other hand and draws it back for the strike. Releasing the conker s/he swings it down by the string held in the other hand and tries to hit her/his opponents conker with it. If s/he misses he is allowed up to two further goes. If the strings tangle, the first player to call "strings" gets an extra shot. Players take alternate hits at their opponent's conker. The game is won when one player destroys the other's conker. (The-Tree.org.uk) |
|
|
Horse chestnut is supposed to be good for venous disorders such as varicose veins, phlebitis and haemorrhoids."
__________________
Kathryn
Dh Michael, Rachel(3/95) Hannah(8/98) Naomi(6/06)  (11/07)
The Bookworm
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
hylabrook1
Forum Moderator
Joined: July 09 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5980
|
| Posted: Oct 04 2008 at 5:22pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thanks, Jennifer.
Peace,
Nancy
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
florasita
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 06 2007
Location: Canada
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 907
|
| Posted: Oct 07 2008 at 5:08pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thank you ladies so much this is just great . I guess we do not get these this far north .
__________________
May I rise & rest with words of Gratitude on my Breath
May I have the Heart & Mind of a Child in my Depth
May I forever remember to be a Light
May Peace Love & Hope be My Sight
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Sarah M
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 06 2008
Location: Washington
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1423
|
| Posted: Oct 08 2008 at 5:06pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Ha! This thread was posted in perfect timing for me. We just found a pile of conkers this morning, gathered some up (I had no idea what they were!). We came home and my dd4 was certain she had seen picutres of these treasures in her flower fairies book. We found the picture and discovered they were conkers from horse chestnuts. At any rate, I came online and found this thread- serendipity!
Oh happy day. 
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: conkers ?
