nuts! more specifically acorns

The acorns have been falling like mad around here and they are some big mammajammas too so thought i would put a thread up as a reminder to others to try harvesting and using some of them. They are a great survival food!!!

This is the first year we will be harvesting any of our own acorns as we figure they have so many uses we should be able to find something that we actually enjoy using them for. They are free , add up quickly in weight , it i is something the whole family can do together or for an otherwise useless eater that we should all have atleast one of around( but thats another post entirely ) and very little of there weight is wasted much unlike many other nuts.

The last two days in about an hours time two of us have harvested about 60 pounds of them and they are not truly falling yet in huge amounts but are being blown off. We now have them out drying after having picked through them well and inspected for bugs and removed there little caps.

Alot of our info on them has come from this site below. It is pretty informative and gives many different recipes and uses for not just the acorn but the tannins that must be leached from them.. The site overall is a pretty good site to browse through. They have some pretty good info all around and i often find myself looking some things up when it comes to survival...

http://grandpappy.info/racorns.htm

 

The ones that are inedible due to bugs/rot (as well as the shells of the ones you do eat) make really good compost! You can also spread them on plant beds for a natural mulch.

 

Thanks for the link Dillijaf, they've been falling in competition with the Hickory nut's around here lately. Thou theres a local herd of Deer around here so I'd hate to deprive them of too much fodder over the winter but I guess I can always supplement with bagged feed from the store.

Never knew they were good for much else but letting wildlife eat them.

 

WHAT?

I didn't think there was anything to do with acorns but fall on them for they Are natures's marbles! Or you can pull up a bazillion baby oak trees that sprout as they lay in the flower beds, too!Acorns sprout like Mad!

You might say I live in the midst of a small oak grove (2 acres, house in the middle). There are other type trees, but it's mostly Many oaks.

In my rural, small neighborhood, I know we are considered "odd" (LOL) b/c of our love for the trees and sorta wild growth. There are parts that are Naturalized, if that makes sense.

When I saw Acorns, I just had to reply cause we always have a ton of leaves to rake (No Burning for my mama and she's the boss o'that) and a godforsaken amount of acorns. (the squirrels love them tho')

so, I'm interested in what we might could Do with them beside take them across the road.

 

Yeah, I just needed to communicate my (hopefully humorous) acorn musings.

But I wanted to say also Thanks for that great link up there, dilligaf!

 

Hey Lynnbrown, those leaves are great for garden compost too just in case ya didnt know.

 

Hey Fritz! Yeah, I don't get them all out of the flower beds. And roses actually Love oak leaves mixed in with their dirt, etc. because of the high acidic content - but you probably already know that...But oak leaves take so Very Long to decompose - moreso than other leaves, I really prefer using pine needles as mulch.
We are lucky to have other acres of land and I'm able to go and harvest all the pine needles I want - if I'm not too lazy. Also according to how much $$ I have, to tell the truth.
But I'd give nothing for our big oaks!

 

No doubt, I'll be harvesting pine needles this year!

 

Yea', I just wish the previous stewarts here hadn't let the loggers thru about 10 years back (judging on whats here now) Sad to see all the 3' stumps sticking out of the ground

 

Honey! You would not believe how "logging companies" have approached us wanting to "harvest" the trees on the land I spoke of.

I can just "see" what you are talking about and I'm sure that land knows you are there now, to protect it, etc. Do you have any little trees coming up?
At all? People are so stupid to think we don't Need Trees on this earth, you know?

 

Well the 2 acres I'm on was pretty well cleared down to 15 or so trees and then used for two resedential plot's but the renters in #2 have been gone for 3 years and things are coming back to the way they should be slowly, the surrounding 20 acres are also recovering rather well, alot of 4 to 8" trunks.

I'm turning about 3/4 an acre into a produce garden now for next Spring but lots of sandstone slowing me down (yea, I know, raised beds,,, I just dont like em'. )
and I'm starting to plan out just what sort of fruit & nut trees I'll be filling in the empty gaps with. Persimmons, Pears etc. Not sure about Nut trees, but the Hickory might do well enough for that. We'll see. I may just freak out with being so close to my family again and end up at some sort of commune down the road. Time will tell. But I'd at least like to get things "in shape" here for them considering the state of things in the world.