I’ve been Parsnipped!

Since my arrival, the farm has waged war on my body. Sore muscles, sun burns, cuts, scrapes, blisters, but by far the worst offence…Poison Parsnip. I had never heard of Poison Parsnip before the farm and it took at least 16 showings before I could even pretend to pick it out of a field. But it’s EVERYWHERE, so it wasn’t too long before I could successfully avoid it most days. And since it’s everywhere, I also learned to be fastidious about washing up with super soap if there was a possibility of contact. Word on the street is, the plant emits an oil when it is disturbed. This oil is sunlight reactive and causes a chemical burn/blister thing. And since the plant is everywhere and we have work to do, running into the plant happens. And even with the most fastidious washings, sometimes it leaves a mark. My lower legs are dotted with poison parsnip burns, scratches, and blisters…it just part of doing business. But dear lord was I shocked to discover a giant blister on my arm. A splotch about .5 inch by 1.5 inch and it was puffier than I’d seen before. Yikes! And that wasn’t bad enough. By the following day it had ballooned into a bulbous nightmare. It was twice as wide and stood nearly a half inch off my skin. G.R.O.S.S. I had to go to market and sell delicious vegetables to people with a disgusting protrusion on my arm. No one said anything about it, but I could feel their horrified stares searing into my already burning bulb. It’s ‘better’ now. After market it started oozing (oozing the oil that caused the affliction in the first place. I was careful to keep it contained.) It oozed for a while as there was a fair amount of liquid packed in. It’s still not looking pretty, but it’s no longer a bulbous protrusion…which is good…right?

UPDATE
I successfully avoided another major parsnip attack for weeks. Then one day I was working amongst some weeds and my legs got all scraped up and those scratches turned to rashes and boils. Apparently I react more severely to wild parsnip than others. Everyone’s good at something…

Update II
A month after the original update and I still haven’t posted it…oops. I am healing quite well, although my legs still look like I’ve been tortured. Apparently, even after the wounds heal, I’ll have discoloration that could last up to 2 years. I’m choosing to look at it as a souvenir of my farming days.

Take a look at some pictures:

That's the good leg.

It's not pretty.

Look at the size of that thing! Yikes.