Some more about oaks...

It's a new spring and a new opportunity for me to bore you with more information about one of my favorite trees. Do I even need to name it? 

I use the term 'bore' in a bit of apparent self-deprecation, but the truth is that I like what I've learned about oak trees and am using this format to force it upon all of you.  That's actually tending toward the brash end of the scale, isn't it?  I hope you'll forgive me and find this short post at least tolerable. 

(There he goes being self-deprecating again, are we being manipulated?) 

This was taken on September 16th, 2020.  This is my oak tree. Acorn central.  

Here is another oak on top of Mt. Dizzy.

Very new growth.

I picked up a few more interesting bits about oaks recently. I found the information I'm about to share with you from The Wood: The Life and Times of Cockshutt Wood, by John Lewis-Stempel.

Oaks have been used in a number of ways that I haven't mentioned before. I knew that whisky has long been aged in oak barrels, charred or otherwise, but I didn't know that 'May dew gathered from oak leaves was a beauty treatment for young women.' Nor did I know that oak leaf wine was a possibility. Besides that, in his Sylvia, (1664) John Evelyn wrote that -young red oaken leaves decocted in wine make an excellent gargle for a sore mouth. 

The header picture shows the area under my favorite oak tree. When I first saw this tree, it reminded me of a giant maple tree that grew in our yard when I was a kid.  I remember playing a game back then on a very sunny day when the shadows where sharp. We pretended that the shaded area defined our camp in the woods and beyond it's limits where all manner of danger.  

I think our game proves something of the wisdom of children, because John Evelyn also wrote about the oak in Sylvia, -Nay, tis reported, that the very shade of this tree is so wholesome, that the sleeping, or lying under it becomes a present remedy to paralyticks, and recovers those whom the mistaken malign influence of the walnut-tree has smitten.  

Now, we had no idea as kids that walnut trees were such trouble makers, and we were playing under a maple instead of an oak, simply because it's all we had, but we understood the fundamental idea, according to Evelyn, of a tree's wholesomeness even at that early age. I think that's significant.  

Now, some of you know me. You know that when I hear about being able to eat this, or drink that, natural food, I'm very likey to try it.  Accordingly, I brought home a pocketful of oak leaves from that little oak on Mt. Dizzy that I showed you above and I brewed myself some tea. I'm glad that I tried it although truth be told, I actually imbibed less than an ounce of the stuff. You could get a very close approximation of the flavor of my tea if you simply stuck an oak leaf in your cheek for a while. I found that it tasted very 'green.'  I understand why it has never caught on as a beverage. Even 'iced' and 'sweetened,' it would remain wanting I think. I'll give the wine a pass as well. 

But John Evelyn not all positive with his comments about oaks. He was an oak realist. He ended with a warning about them. 'Beware the oak, as it draws the stroke. (of lightning)' 

I assume from this then that he would suggest sleeping or lying under it only after checking with the weather channel.  

Finally, to finish this post, I refer to an experiment I started well over a year ago, I present the 'data' of my pin oak storage testing

You may recall that although the pin oak acorn is tiny compared to the English oak acorn, I said that it was produced in such quantity by the trees in our area that it could, if necessary, be gathered in quantities that might make a difference between starvation and survival if all other sources of food were exhausted. Because it is small, I reasoned that it might dry very successfully and store its approximately 7% protein content for a long time.  

This is the 2nd spring after I havested these acorns. Of the 30 I opened at random, 28 were in excellent shape and edible after rehydrating, grinding and leaching steps were carried out. I call that a huge success.   

Condition during storage, very clean and completely dry.

Those pieces on the right make up the two I tore apart during my inspection. 

I am going to continue to keep my mind open to other possibilites for 'fun with acorns.'  

However, groundskeeping crews came through some time ago and trimmed all the trees in the area, taking off the lower branches. Unfortunately for me and my 'research,' because of this I can no longer pick acorns as I have in the past, directly off the branches. I'll have to now pick them up after they fall. I don't suppose this will change the quality too much, as long as I am very watchful and don't let them lie around on the ground at all, but I liked the thought of getting the acorns when they were still attached to the tree and 'perfect.'  

Whatever I get up with to with species Quercus, I'll keep you posted.          -djf