Monkey Balls
I think most people call these Monkey Brains, but for some odd reason I always called them Monkey Balls. I know, I am “special” like that!
Really these are the fruit from an Osage Orange tree. I love the smell of these…most people don’t. In olden times they were used to keep spiders away. You are supposed to put them in corners as a spider repellent.
We used them for something else.
I raided my husbands work bench for some supplies.
I gave them each a small hammer…and this is what they created:
This one reminds me of Shrek!
can you eat them?!
http://www.gpnc.org/osage.htm
I’ve heard people around here call them “hedge apples.” Not sure why.
We always threw them at each other as kids. I think my grandmother would slice them and dry them and make pretty little flower doodads with them — you know, glue them on a board and add other nature pretties to them. I’ve never seen them used this way, but it looks like fun!