At just 9 years old, Axlee Tackett is too young to play the Ohio Lottery, but if her current run of luck continues, she could be in for a big payoff when she grows up.
Axlee, an elementary school student in the River Valley Local School District, has hit the jackpot in another way, so to speak, in recent weeks since the school year ended. The youngster, who will be in fifth grade when the new school year begins in August, has found two six-leaf clovers and a five-leaf clover in the past two weeks alone at her grandparents' home near Waldo.
"She found the five-leaf one day and then found both the six-leaf clovers on the same day just a couple of minutes apart," said Robert Tackett of Prospect, Axlee's father. "She was looking for another five-leaf when she came across the two six-leaf clovers. I was like, 'Oh my gosh.' So we looked up the odds and it was just crazy. We couldn't believe it."
According to an article in the May 2021 edition of "Sierra," the official magazine of the Sierra Club, the prevalence of four-leaf clovers is approximately 1 in 5,040. The prevalence of five-leaf clovers is more than four times rarer, at an estimated 1 in 23,000. The article, based on research by Lidia and Uli Sperling of Bern, Switzerland, estimates that the prevalence of six-leaf clovers is approximately 1 in 340,000. The article notes that Lidia Sperling is a lifelong collector of clovers while her husband Uli has doctorate in plant sciences.
Based on those figures, what young Axlee has accomplished in recent weeks is simply amazing.
When asked what her secret to finding the rare clovers is, Axlee responded shyly, "I don't know."
"She has learned to have a lot patience," Robert said.
Robert said she just began looking for and collecting clovers in earnest this summer and has already amassed numerous bags of the four-leaf variety. Finding the five- and six-leaf clovers has created quite the buzz within the family, he said.
Krista Schweinfurth, Axlee's grandmother, said she'd much rather have all of the clover removed from her yard, but she's happy that Axlee is enjoying her new hobby.
"I keep telling my husband he needs to spray the yard and get rid of them, but (Axlee) says, 'No you can't do that," Krista said with a smile. "It's amazing, though. She'll be out here and I'll be sitting on the front porch or something and she'll come running, yelling, 'I got one!' But Robert is good at it, too. He's the one who got her started on this."
While Grandma Krista was talking, Robert and Axlee were hard at work, in search of clovers. He quickly pointed out an area where several were growing. The eye for clover definitely runs in the Tackett family.
"Is it a five leaf?" Robert asked Axlee. "No. It's two of them stuck together."
Robert said Grandma Krista has "the luckiest yard in the world."
Oh, by the way, older sister Rya, who is a student at River Valley Middle School, is also pretty good at finding clover, Robert said. Visits to grandma's house are big treat for the Tackett girls, he added.
"They don't want to come home when they go to grandma's house," Robert laughed. "She spoils the heck out of them."
In addition to being an expert clover hunter, Axlee is a budding artist with a sketchbook full of beautiful drawings of animals, plants, and other subjects. She keeps a couple of bags of clovers in the sketchbook, too. Just for luck.
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