“We just recently had some rain here in the Northeast. We've had a very dry summer and so we are very thankful for the rain, but with the rain came some fairly high winds and even some hail. In addition to the hail dropping from the sky there were also black walnuts (Juglans nigra). The nuts can be eaten and the green hulls are used to make medicine. Black walnuts have a long history of use especially topically and internally both as antifungal agents and as a vermifuge. Black walnut is traditionally used for amoebic infections such as Giardia, Blastocystis hominis, Dientamoeba fragilis, Cryptosporidium. A wide range of amoebic and amoeba-like organisms can be treated using black walnut. I prefer this herb for adults; it is a bit too strong to be used in children. And for those of you who are horse lovers do not use black walnut products with your horses because it is toxic to horses. But in humans, it is relatively non-toxic although incredibly bitter and horrible tasting. The extract of the green hulls ranks it as one of my top five worst tasting plants extracts. It can also be used topically for fungal infections such as athlete’s foot and ringworm. Be very careful with fungal infection in very sensitive areas such as the groin as it can cause irritation and swelling. Phyllis Light RH(AHG) who is a wonderful herbalist from Alabama also says that black walnut stimulates thyroid function. This is not something I've used it for, but when you have somebody who is as experienced an herbalist as she, is stating that it has that activity, I have no doubt that it does. So these are a few of the things that we're seeing around the gardens at the moment and I hope that you'll take the time to go out in your garden and look for them and maybe take a look at and share what's ripening in your garden and yard.”