A Climb Up into the Hardwoods

From a seeming nursery of young white pines, shepherded by a stately stand of giant mother trees, we trek easterly up the hill into an entirely different scenario.  Rather than a crowded forest,of pines, the relatively open hill has allowed sufficient sunlight through the canopy to support a stand of hardwood.  Predominately Black and White Oak, the stand is interspersed with various common species of Birch, Beech, Ash, Cherry and Ironwood.

But our attention is given to the predominant Oak.  Some saplings a mere one or two inches in diameter, some nearly two feet in diameter. (Remember the DBH we discussed earlier in our walk?)  This oak stand is estimated to be about fifty years of age  with a smattering of much older trees which were never harvested.  Although a great disparity exists in the size of the stand trees, they are all about the same age.  Location on hillsides, soil conditions and available sunlight penetrating the canopy will enhance the growth of some and retard the growth of others.  Survival of the fittest applies and they survive to provide the fruits of propagation, the mighty acorn.

But would you believe....they do not produce their first crop of acorns until they reach maturity-between twenty and fifty years of age, depending upon species.  And, incidentally, we can find over six hundred species of oak trees spread widely over our planet.  Our earliest forms of life through to our current living species have relied upon the fruit of the oak for basic subsistence.  And to this day, we can still harvest the acorn for a palatable food source, although a bag of salted nuts may be more convenient.

While some of our native american tribes relied primarily upon corn or rice as their main food staple, others relied upon various nut fruits including the acorn.  The common white oak was the main source since it contained lower percentages of tannin, making the meat sweeter and more palatable.  If one should desire to pursue the harvest of the acorn for food, help and advice is always available on the internet, but, as I previously opined, a bag of salted nuts may be more convenient.