the poor man's fruit

The U.P. is gearing up for rhubarb season! This bountiful crop has all the locals very excited about harvesting these quirky vegetables.  Careful though, the leaves are poisonous and eating too much of the stalks will cause a very robust and healthy purge! 

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For those who want to grow their own rhubarb, it is recommended by the agro team at Michigan State University (go green!) to first install a 6 foot high, electrically tensiled fence to keep out the deer.   I vote, grow the rhubarb and let the deer eat it all with reckless abandon without fear of being electocuted. ​

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Lastly, in order to make this raw veggie even minimally palatable, you must douse the damn thing with massive quantities of sugar, honey or syrup.   If you have to disguise it, it's probably not really that tasty, I'm thinking.  If you happen to ingest the leaves by accident (?!), symptoms of poisoning are weakness, burning in the mouth and throat, breathing difficulty, pain in the eyes and stomach, nausea,vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, red colored urine and kidney stones.