Not long ago, I discovered a little patch of athlete's foot between two toes. Yes, mine. I dutifully tried lavender essential oil, not only for its known healing properties but also for anti-fungal abilities and its most beautiful scent. Sadly, my toes' affliction didn't seem at all affected, so I did some experimenting. I knew from my studies that walnut hulls are very tannic and are also known for their anti-fungal properties. Coincidentally, right outside our back door lives the most regal of walnut trees and exactly when I was in need, it happened to be festooned with its brightly colored fruits. Fresh walnuts, ripening in midsummer are covered with a protective skin known as a hull. Squirrels seemed undeterred by this mysterious cloak that disguises the familiar wrinkled, hard shelled nut inside. In fact the little harvesters came daily to gnaw on each bauble, taking maybe one or two bites only to fling the rest down, sometimes missing my head by inches. I gathered a few of the least damaged of these treasures and also picked several still left on the tree, and carefully washed them before I began to pare off the hulls. The husk of a walnut is a lot like a very dense Pippin apple, green and shiny on the outside but also green inside, and very fleshy and more juicy than you might expect. The skin is not very deep, so you have to take care not to dull your knife on the hard nutshell hidden inside. After I'd peeled a few, I took a sniff of a little half moon slice. It smelled so reminiscent of creosote. I have no idea if they have similar constituents, and will have to look that up later and add it to another post. I put the sliver between my toes. Almost immediately the itch was relieved and within an hour, I could see my infection had started to dry up. Within a week, the condition had completely disappeared and my foot was back to normal. One word of caution if you try this remedy: if you do your paring with bare hands, expect your digits to turn a dark brown, especially under the nails, as black walnut hulls are used in dyes and are very effective at leaving their mark.