Found a Peanut

Okay, this is not a post about a farm, but maybe a farmer can solve an ongoing mystery for my family.

We live on the central coast of California, where peanuts are not likely to have been planted, as they need conditions that don't really exist here. I know that they ripen and grow underground, as well. And that a peanut has to be attached to a plant to grow, just as any legume would.

I have asked some of the smartest people I know in two different forums (Readerville.com and MouthfulsFood.com) to come up with an explanation, and none have been able to answer the question I am about to ask you all.

Bob gardens a lot, and has cause to dig around the yard here and there. Two or three times a year, he has encountered a peanut.

A single peanut, in the shell (so I guess that means two peanuts in a single shell?) neither rotten nor in any other way defective.

It's gotten to be a joke, the last 3-4 times Bob's found one. He says nothing, just comes into the house and drops the peanut onto my desk. I say, "WHAT the?" and we laugh.

A few weeks ago, he was working at his friend's house, digging holes for a fence. Bob found a peanut, and showed it to the friend, saying, "I can't believe you have these here, too." The friend excitedly recounted his own identical experience: one peanut in the shell in perfect shape. His friend likewise is completely lacking in a rational explanation for the appearance of the peanuts.

(We are zip code 95073, and the friend is 95003. if that makes any difference to anything.)

Let me add that, until last year, I had never even seen a squirrel here. Birds aren't dropping them, because they're underground, about the depth of a shovel head. We have no chipmunks: they don't live around here. (We do have gophers.) Chipmunks like woods: you'll find them in the Sierra Nevada mountain forests.

So: where in the heck are these mysterious nuts coming from?

It is my fond hope that all the other people who are finding peanuts will come forward and share your experiences. One caveat: if you crack it open, and find it rotten, and eat it anyway, don't come crying to me when you die.

And that concludes this departure from farms and farmers. But maybe a Georgia farmer will crack the nut. So to speak.

That's all for now: I am working on a proposal that's got me really busy for another couple of days. Farms soon, I promise!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "I do not yet know why plants come out of the land or float in streams, or creep on rocks or roll from the sea. I am entranced by the mystery of them, and absorbed by their variety and kinds. Everywhere they are visible yet everywhere occult." —Liberty Hyde Bailey

Thanks for visiting.

Comments

[GaryM]

Neat mystery! I would have guessed birds to be responsible, except for the depth. Scrub Jays will bury peanuts in the shell up to an inch or two.

At the depth you describe, above ground animals might spend more energy burying and recovering the peanut than the energy provided in the nut, and at that depth, how does the animal expect to find it again? A real head scratcher.

[Jennifer Jeffrey]

Thanks a lot, Tana: now I'm going to have that song running through my head ALL NIGHT LONG!

;-)

I'm afraid I'm no help in solving your peanut mystery, but I sure hope someone is... this has all the makings of a good scientific Whodunit.

[Rebecca]

Hmm, the obvious (squirrels and such) you've omitted. Do raccoons bury their food? Oposum maybe? Dog, very doubtful. There, those are my guesses. This indeed is a mystery. FYI, I haven't found any buried peanuts here (97007). Yet!

[Anneliese]

I still say squirrel. At a previous residence, I found peanuts all over the backyard buried six inches or so deep. Then they started to appear buried deep in my potted plants. Now, I'd planted those pots so I knew what was in the soil from the beginning. Turns out neighbors two backyards down had an evening smorgasbord every night by tossing out peanuts for the "wildlife." The squirrels planted them all over the neighborhood.

You say you haven't seen squirrels, but what if they used to be around in great numbers, but some mysterious circumstance caused them to disappear: like they buried their peanuts too deep to find again so they died of starvation?

There's the mystery! :)

[Alex Tiller]

This might be a reach, but it looks like your friend is not that far away. (11.2 Miles according to google maps: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=95073+to+95003&sll=37.026687,-121.93972&sspn=0.121012,0.259552&ie=UTF8&ll=36.997891,-121.92215&spn=0.121058,0.259552&t=h&z=13 ) My guess is that the contractor that built the house, or plumber, or landscaper, or maybe even a city/county inspector visited both properties around the time of construction. -That person really liked peanuts and carried them around to eat all of the time. Final grating of the land covered up a few stray peanuts on that he/she had dropped on the ground. –That’s the best I could come up with. Not sure why they didn’t decay though. Probably has something to do with your local soil and climate.

Alex Tiller
http://blog.alextiller.com

[95073]

I found a peanut in my yard about a month ago as well...

[Atlanta Flower Shop]

A modern day Nancy Drew mystery indeed. If you ever solve the mystery I want to know the answer.

[melinda]

OMG! I found a peanut in my yard too, in the casing 2 ft under. Except my story differs from yours. The turf was turned and obviously dug square with a spade or shovel as the top grass turf was buried in the hole as well. If I hadn't cut the lawn one more time this year I probably never would have discovered this. It was buried about 10 ft away from my house. I am wondering is someone trying to hex me or do voo-doo? THe curse of the peanut! My dog was barking insanely a few nights ago and this turned soil was kinda freshly turned? Hence my search for anyone finding a hard shelled peanut in their lawn. Any answers or where i can research this please help. Should I pour salt in the ground to undo the hex? I'll take my peanut with salt to go!

[Nicole]

I'm in New York City and I have a garden on the roof. It's a potted garden, and nearly everyday I find peanuts in the soil. I was starting to think I was going crazy, so glad I found this post. My roof is on the fourth floor. My only explanation is birds, but I just don't believe it.

[Bob Zender]

I think I may be able to shed some light on this. When soil is compacted by the elements (chiefly rain) the major components--peanut butter and carbon fiber--are compacted, forming small people who come to life. When they die a few seconds later they are naturally mummified by the surrounding peanut butter soil into peanuts in the shell. Therefore, there is a ghost in the shell. Responding to melinda, animals are very tuned in to psychic and supernatural waves and will bark or behave erratically when sensing them.

And no, I am not for real.