Okay all you Aussies! Fess Up - What are Gumnuts?????

There's a certain eucalypt tree that has magnificent gumnuts each year and they make excellent bubble pipes. We drill a small hole in the side of the nut about the size of a drinking straw, scrape out the inside with the core and seeds, unless the nut has already ripened and hardened and thrown out its seeds, then we insert a shortened drinking straw into the hole, make up a bowl of fairly strong dishwashing detergent and the kids have hours of fun blowing bubbles.
I had my Cub Pack make bubble pipes one year and then when my youngest son, Dominic, was ten all the boys at the party made their own bubble pipes and spent the best time at the end of the deck blowing bubbles into the air.
Of course, this activity is always followed by a Water Melon Pip-Spittin' Contest.

We have also sprayed sprigs of gumnuts gold and silver at Christmas time and decorated the house with them. They make it all very Australian.
AlmaG.

GumnutFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
Gumnut can refer to:

The hard woody fruit of trees of the genus Eucalyptus.
Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, the gumnut babies of author May Gibbs.

I don't know either!!

I have so many of these on my Gum Trees of different varieties. When I lived in Qld (my Birth State) we used to eat Pawpaw for breakfast each morning.

3 comments

by mariahail 29 Jan 2011

WHAT IS PAWPAW? I am from Cuba and when wwe tell the kids they going to get paw paw, means they are going to get a good spanking...

by airyfairy 30 Jan 2011

Paw paw is the same as Papaya as far as I know

by killiecrankie 30 Jan 2011

Also Known as breadfruit

Yes that is a song and it's a bewdy, mate.
I've added a link below, it's foot-tapping so be prepared. :-)


I personally don't like paw paws, it's the only fruit I can't abide! YUK!

Any other questions? :-)
hugs n gumnuts, Meganne

2 comments

by mariahail 29 Jan 2011

I love it, it is just like the old Texas Country music...Wow do you still have wolworth's stores there???? they been gone for years...Thanks for the music. I see now why my ex husband spends so much time with his girlfriend there....

by beatie58 30 Jan 2011

Meganne, I am with you I don't like paw paws either I cannot get them past my nose to my mouth they smell discussing!!!

Oh! Snugglepot and Cuddlepie would make great names for pets, don't you think! YaI learn something every day! Are gum trees actually eucalyptus trees, then? Is there really a song with the words, "Give me a home among the Gum Trees, with lots of Plum trees.... etc?"

Have you Aussies ever been to a PawPaw patch? You pick them up and put them in your pocket.

You aren't the only one to bite the bullet and have to ask this question...meg has the answer. Link below

here are google images of gumnuts.

3 comments

by katydid 29 Jan 2011

wow!! what do you do with them. Are they edible?

by killiecrankie 30 Jan 2011

only if you want a Very large dentist bill

by killiecrankie 30 Jan 2011

They are used in craft items,dried flower arrangements & look good painted. The ones in our backyard are too small to do anything with but the possums eat the gum leaves

just read the link - if you read Meganne's post and look at her pics you'll know all about gumnuts. May Gibbs is the author of the book that I was trying to recall. It is a delightful story.

1 comment

by killiecrankie 30 Jan 2011

Someone has a set of machine emb designs from May Gibbs stories -I think they were from Orifeus(check spelling).I have several designs for hand cross stitch released by the Royal Blind Society of NSW under licence

they are the seed pods from the Gum Tree [eucalypt] and are in lots of sizes and shapes, depending upon the exact variety of the tree. There is a famous story about the Gumnut Babies, but I can't remember enough of it to tell you about it correctly. Perhaps someone else will.

http://answers.cuteembroidery.com...
I think this is where you will get your answer