Cloudy with a high chance of conkers
Yesterday was one of those blustery Autumn days — grey skies with the wind kicking up just enough to send a steady stream of ripples over the Thames . I took the girls to the playpark after school, and as they made their rounds and I sat absorbed checking my iPhone.
Thud!
I thought one of those teenage boys that you always see lurking at playparks after hours had thrown something.
But on the ground next to me was a perfectly polished brown conker, the colour of a Chesterfield sofa. I looked around and there were hundreds — OK, that’s an exaggeration, maybe 50 or so — scattered under the the trio of towering chestnut trees that shaded the play area. The wind kicked up again and….
Thud! Thud!
Two new shiny gems fell at my feet, their green casings nearby. I couldn’t resist the urge to pick one up –smooth and cool in my hand. In fact, we all couldn’t resist, and we ended up with a Tesco bag full of them.
So what does one do with a whole bag of conkers? (I didn’t grow up here — suggestions please.)
Photo credit: jo-h
Nan | 12th Oct 11
Ooooh, thank you thank you all! I, too, am new to conkers, and my kids love picking them up and filling their pockets (All of the conkers get named ‘William the Conker’, which is apparently the most hilarious joke ever). If they keep spiders away, I’ll be lining my windowsills with them.
Apple Island Wife | 11th Oct 11
YOu put them in a decorative bowl and enjoy them through the winter. There’s probably a correct corner of your feng shui household to place them in as well – the corner of plenty or the area of childhood or something. Or try a shelving unit.
Fiona Campbell Photography | 5th Oct 11
Just don’t eat them, as one of the lovely families that I recently photographed tried to! They are from France and haven’t been here long, and they thought they were chestnuts! We had a lovely game of hide and seek for them for the photoshoot.
Kerri @ Baby Monitors Online | 3rd Oct 11
Interesting to hear that conkers keep the spiders away, I have a big fear of spiders and unfortunately I’ve seen a lot of spiders in the last few weeks. Maybe I should go conker picking… 🙂
Michelloui | 29th Sep 11
What is it with conkers? They’re better than seashells. I can’t walk past a newly dropped one without picking it up, carrying it with me, absentmindedly rubbing my thumb over it’s smooth surface. This is certainly one thing I love about living in England!
Family Affairs | 27th Sep 11
Hmmm. I find it best to leave them in the bag until they go mouldy then throw them away. Too tempting not to pick up, but frankly after that of no use whatsover Lx
Paula | 27th Sep 11
We took the kids conker picking at the weekend! They loved it, finding them, picking them etc 🙂
northernmum | 26th Sep 11
We collected a bunch recently and then we painted them with nail polish. No real reason as to why it was just I couldn’t bear to watch them just go to waste another year on. At least this way they will rot with colour!
Jane x
Mari | 26th Sep 11
Expat mum – vinegar? I never knew that and am filing it away for future use.
Susanna, remember your post on spiders a while back? Well apparently spiders don’t like conkers so leave them around areas where spiders have been seen and you’ll have them scuttling away for pastures less conker smelling 🙂
Snafflesmummy | 8th Oct 09
I think a “shiny sixer” means they have beaten 6 other people in a game of conkers.
My stick to tree throwing technique leaves alot to be desired so when my little boy wanted to go conkering we were relying on a strong gust of wind!
H Williams | 2nd Oct 09
hi. we have a conker tree in our garden and grown up kids! -bad combination. I bag loads up and send them off to the local pre school groups. they use them for language development. they use them for floating, weighing and in the sand pit etc. anywhere in fact. sometimes some are a little chewed ( by sqirrells etc) so I wonder if eventually they will be banned in this situation as well (health and safety)
A Modern Mother | 22nd Sep 09
Just found another use — hide them in the back garden and play hide the conkers … beter than easter eggs they don’t smell when they rot!
All Grown Up | 20th Sep 09
My Nan is 75. She cannot walk past a smooth, shiny conker. (Who can?) She stoops her elderly, shaky frame to collect them as she walks her dog in the graveyard next to her home. She has a display plate in her hallway piled high with them this time of year! Reminds me of when my Granddad was around and he would take us 7 grandchildren conkering, and we’d hurl huge sticks into the trees to get them down!
Woman Who Can | 20th Sep 09
It’s meant to be right about keeping the spiders away, it was on the tv. And the tv wouldn’t lie to you.
Iota | 18th Sep 09
I love Met Mum’s toothpick animals!
A Modern Mother | 18th Sep 09
Rosie — I hope I’m creating some great memories for my girls, there were no horse chestnut trees where I grew up, boo hoo
Expat — ???
Expat Mum | 18th Sep 09
See what you’ve started!
Rosie Scribble | 18th Sep 09
You could sell them at the school gates and make a fortune. I used to love going hunting for conkers when I was younger!
A Modern Mother | 18th Sep 09
Sarah — that’s a feather in your cap!
SPD — I bet you were a champ
Michelloui – you hit on it, they look there best right out of their casing
Fanciful A — who would have known?!
Fanciful Alice | 18th Sep 09
Reading these comments I now have lots more ideas of what to do with conkers … I’m also pretty sure that James Wong (grow your own drugs) used them in some beauty treatments, too! In my day we used to play conkers in the playground … apparently you’re not allowed any more. BOOO health and safety!
Michelloui | 18th Sep 09
I LOVE conkers! I love to hold them and feel their smooth surface like a perfect stone in my hand. I like looking at a bowl of them (but they do tend to go dull and a bit shrunken), all autumnal and gorgeous. I like the lovely wood grain effect stripes on them as soon as you peel the outer husk thing off. My daughter soaked hers in water to see if the wood grain effect would last or if it disappears from air contact (it doesnt last). We planted one once and we are having a real struggle keeping it going because of all the deer in our garden!
SingleParentDad | 18th Sep 09
Shoelaces off, skewer the conkers, lace through conkers, then proceed to try and smash another prepared conker versus your designated foe. There was a Health and Safety scam a couple of years ago saying conkers had been banned, or safety goggles must be worn, but it turned out to be spoof.
Sarah Walters | 18th Sep 09
I was the ‘2007 Conker Champion’ in my old village (parents still live there).
In the Sports & Social Club (that we, the villagers paid for in 199? 🙂 my dad runs a knock-out Conker Championship every year.
He spends hours drilling the holes, and threading them all up – then sells them 20p each and you can buy/enter as many times as you like.
The kids love it – as they are no longer allowed to play conkers without eye shields and hard hats (lol) – and the adults are SOOOOO competitive – it really is a fun evening.
Don’t bake them or soak in vinegar – that’s cheating! and that’s why dad will only let you enter the competition with one of his conkers.
Somebody else makes a bit of food, and then all the money goes to the nominated charity they are supporting.
Who says village/community spirit has died!!!???
Love it – Kudos to my Dad!
A Modern Mother | 18th Sep 09
Tree — I imagine your house full of bowls of pine cones, acorns, leaves…
Iota — what a lovely idea, you must have told my daughters this because I have found them in my pocket … but I thought “what’s ucky thing”! instead.
Expat — speaking from experience?
Kat — understood everything except “a shiny sixer”
Lucia — fabulous! We have tons of spiders
Met — ohh, thanks!
Bluesky — as in the famous “kookaburra sits in the old gum tree” gumnuts?
blueskyhi | 18th Sep 09
I have no ideas as I’ve never seen a conker until now, but we do have gumnuts and they’re like rocks. We’ve had two smashed windscreens with them falling out of trees as we drive!!
Metropolitan Mum | 17th Sep 09
You need toothpicks or matches to create little animals. I used to love this when I was a kid http://www.grids-bastelecke.de/bastelecke/basteln_minis/natur/baum/kastanientiere
Lucia | 17th Sep 09
Apparently if you put this season’s conkers in each room of your house it will help to deter those enormous spiders that we get at this time of year….
Worth a try maybe?!
Kat | 17th Sep 09
You need to develop your own hardening technique and then find some unsuspecting chump with a shiny sixer.
Expat Mum | 17th Sep 09
If you’re going to play conkers, soak them in vinegar for a while beforehand. Apparently that makes them really hard, all the better to smash the opponant’s conkers to smithereens. It’s a very competitive sport is conkers.
Iota | 17th Sep 09
You could play conkers.
Or you could keep one in your coat pocket, and then every time throughout the winter that you put your hand in your pocket for a tissue or your car keys, you’ll bump your hand against it, take it into your fingers, roll it around, enjoy its smoothness, remember the richness of its colour, and think “oh that lovely conker”.
treemama | 17th Sep 09
agreed, don’t put them off somewhere to find them molding later!
we have acorns and pine cones in jars all over the house, that’s about the extent of my ideas!
but yes, i know about nature collectors!
A Modern Mother | 17th Sep 09
Angels — fascinating! So glad I put out this query.
angelsandurchinsblog | 17th Sep 09
Scatter them in your wardrobe. Apparently, their smell deters moths.
A Modern Mother | 17th Sep 09
Chris — don’t let him eat them!!!
Little Green Fingers — that is a great idea, I’ll try that. I have some hazel nuts too.
Dawn/LittleGreenFingers | 17th Sep 09
I fill glass vases with them – add some pine cones. Totally useless but beautiful to look at – a bit like most of my teenage crushes.
Chris Norton | 17th Sep 09
Ahh it’s all coming back to me conkers – I love them. My little boy was only two on Sunday so I won’t be tackling these problems for a while yet. He would rather eat them at the moment.
A Modern Mother | 17th Sep 09
Muddling Along — Yes, we’ll have to try that… and yes it certainly means Autumn is here.
Muddling Along Mummy | 17th Sep 09
You need some string and something to put a hole through them and time to play conkers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conkers) or you could put a few on the mantlepiece to remind you of this lovely time of year but watch out for them going mouldy
I just love their colour and the fact it means we’re properly hitting Autumn (my favourite season)
A Modern Mother | 17th Sep 09
Susie — good tip, thanks
Susie | 17th Sep 09
Whatever you do, don’t leave them in the carrier bag in some forgotten corner, only to be rediscovered when they start to smell… (as I did!)