As a paret we always childproof the home, but it never dawned on me to childproof the garden. In this episode I will share with you one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me in the garden and in my life. Hopefully it will serve as a PSA to open your eyes to the dangers that can exist in a garden and how to handle them.
VIDEO: One of The SCARIEST Things That Has Ever Happened in The Garden
As a paret we always childproof the home, but it never dawned on me to childproof the garden. In this episode I will share with you one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me in the garden and in my life. Hopefully it will serve as a PSA to open your eyes to the dangers that can exist in a garden and how to handle them.
My sister ingested poisonous mushrooms when she was a toddler, 4 or 5, just growing in our yard. Scared my mom to death, but it happens. If you have kids you know how fast they can stick stuff in their mouths. My oldest daughter loved to pick up bugs, mostly grasshoppers but sometimes beetles, and I had to explain to her some will bite and the bite can be poisonous. There's also snakes if you live more rurally like we used to, and bee or wasp stings can be scary if you are unaware you are allergic. Great tips for being mindful about garden hazards Luke!
Thank you for this reminder. We live on a farm and have even more than our garden to grandchild-proof!!
This is such crazy timing because my toddler ate a mushroom yesterday while playing in the yard. I was freaking out but luckily it wasn't poisonous. Toddlers be crazy like that lol.
Dude no one is perfect. anyone who calls child protective services are idiots. Kids can get into problems so fast til it ain't funny. You can LITERALLY take your eyes off them for less than a minute and somehow they can be found doing some of the most crazy/dangerous things in that time. Anyone who watched kids will tell you this. There is a reason why you always hear "i just took my eyes off them for a second" it's because things really CAN happen that fast.
My daughter ate a sow easy pea and I called poison control. She didn’t eat enough to be life threatening but she could of gotten a stomach age and puking. Non of that happened thank goodness. My garden has a fence around it and my kids know not to touch mushrooms unless it’s in the kitchen.
I don’t know mushrooms well so I just toss them in a compost area.
I do not like centipedes. Their bite isn’t what gets you. It’s their sting that has the venom. I find a lot in my compost pile. my kids love looking for garden spiders and other non threatening bugs. my son wants a snake because momma said they are good for the garden.
Lakota
My toddler ate a deadly nightshade berry… He was fine, but man, that was terrifying. Poison control said that unless he ate a lot he would be ok.
I don’t let my grandchildren in my yard without adult supervision. I live next to a major waterway number 1. That needs no explanation especially during flooding and rutting season. That little bit of woods that grows next to the creek grows several species of mushrooms. It has washouts and animal burrows. At night coyotes come looking for food. Raccoons are not nice and there are several species of spiders and snakes.
Wounderful topic that needed to be covered thank u
I think this video was real good especially for those new parents and new gardeners we could all use a reminder of using safety in the garden and home areas not only for children but for pets and farm animals.
what a frighting situation. Fellow parent. My heart was racing with your story!
People with children who grow Datura always made me worry and I've always told friends with children to use caution with certain plants especially flowers or fruiting toxic shrubs scare me so much! There's no way to 100% child proof outdoors and kids can eat things so fast you have no time to stop them. Not your fault it was an accident just very glad shes ok and glad this could become a learning experience and thank you for posting this it's an eye opener.
This is why the old folks used to have an iron clad rule that you did not go into the garden shed. Don't even be seen by the door. It's where all the dangerous stuff from pesticides to pruning tools were kept.
It’s really worth having a regional mushroom field guide so that you can distinguish between poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms in your area. Some mushrooms like ink caps are pretty easy to identify because nothing else looks like them. But there are tons of different white mushroom varieties that are much more ambiguous that would be hard to identify online, and some are poisonous. Field guides are a great resource- you never know when a highly prized medicinal or culinary mushroom may turn up in your own backyard!
My kid did the same thing, so I did the ol blind sweep and got it out. It was some sort of bolete so it might have not been poisonous but I wasnt taking that chance.
So happy that everything was ok with Geneva! Thanks for bringing it up! Hugs
How do you educate about plants whose leaves are toxic, or: rhubarb? Also, a mailbox in the garden is great for storing small tools but keeping them handy for use. You may also stick in an extra pair of gardening gloves.
Thank you Luke, such a great reminder!
Awesome video! I live in South Central Texas about 1 hour South of San Antonio and in my garden I have fire ants, scorpions, black widows, snakes, & brown recluses. I never thought of the wild mushrooms that grow on their own as dangerous. Thank you for the alert.
Living in Mid-Missouri, we have some of the best wild edibles (can we say morels, mulberries and pawpaws?!) but also some of the worst wild poisonous edibles in the US (not to mention poisonous spiders and snakes!). The past 2 years we've had Death Angels (one of the most poisonous mushrooms around!) growing in our raised beds. While teaching my older sons how to weed, I was able to show them what they looked like at various stages, how and when to remove them and what other mushrooms they could leave to grow in the beds (and why). They've also learned the importance of wearing gloves when working with weeds in case unknown allergies cause sudden rashes. I learned last year that I'm apparently allergic to the sap of tomato plants! Now, I make SURE I'm wearing gloves any time I'm working around my tomato plants. I've also learned that pets can be just as much of an issue. I think it's easy to forget about being safe outside. Thank you for the very important reminder. GREAT video!
Great info, thanks!
Wonderful video, thank you for sharing the importance of checking our gardens and making them childproof.
My mom taught us to call mushrooms “kick ‘ems”. We were taught to kick them over and never touch them with our hands. It is like cleaning house for the fairies. Then they don’t have to push them over. Fairies are so tiny you know.
Thank you. Our orchard is full of mushrooms and the grand son is 3 and loves visiting.
Great topic! Good luck guys!
So scary and so glad she was okay! My boys were playing in the front yard and my youngest (4 or 5 at the time) and said, "Mom I ate some of those berries in the yard and they don't taste very good". I freaked! Thankfully he was fine, but it was a good reminder to make sure kids know this stuff as early as possible.