West Barnstable Farm Stand Was Selling Poisonous Horse Chestnuts

CapeCod.com – The Town of Barnstable Board of Health has shut down a farmstand on Route 149/Meetinghouse Way in West Barnstable because of evidence it was selling poisonous chestnuts. The farmstand is at 2412 Meetinghouse Way/Route 149 in West Barnstable, approximately across from the West Barnstable General Store, near the intersection with Route 6A.

The town is issuing a health warning about the chestnuts. It also obtained a temporary restraining order from the Barnstable Superior Court which prevents the farm stand from operating for the time being.

Town officials are concerned that people may have purchased the chestnuts and frozen them to eat during the holidays.

According to a town official, the Barnstable Board of Health received a complaint from someone who purchased chestnuts from the farmstand and reportedly fell ill.

Board of Health staffers went to the farmstand to try to get chestnuts to test but the farmstand manager said he did not have any and refused to provide information about them, according to a town official.The board of health then had the remaining chestnuts purchased from the woman who complained. The chestnuts were tested by William Clark of the Barnstable County Extension Service.

He said the chestnuts the woman provided from the farmstand were horse chestnuts, which are not edible and consumption can lead to illness and even death depending on the quantity eaten.

The emergency court order to close the stand is in place until at least Tuesday when the farmstand owner can appeal it.

So the farm stand manager must have known these chestnuts weren’t on the up and up right? I mean you don’t clam up and plead the fifth like Whitey Bulger when being questioned about chestnuts unless you are protecting someone. I guess it just goes to show you how ruthless the Cape Cod farm stand game is. You just don’t drop dimes in that industry or you wake up with a horse head in your bed.

Seriously though, what the fuck? We’ve got a fake media fueled Ebola crisis on our hands, we don’t have time to worry about getting poisoned by the chestnuts from a god damn farm stand. Is nothing sacred anymore? The only reason anyone stops at those things is to avoid all the processed crap at Stop and Shop. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take processed over straight up poisonous any day.