Lavender Harvest is over. Now We Collect for Acorns to Oaks Program.
Wesley, Sabien and I collect valley oak acorns from the oak savanna by our home for the Acorn to Oaks program in Napa County. School children will plant them in a program to re-oak the Napa Valley.
We collect perfect acorns, count them and put them in labeled bags. We note the number and kinds of acorns, and the date and place they were collected.
Both boys are astute at distinguishing black oak acorns from valley oak; valley oak from coastal oak. The bag in this photo contains acorns from one of the highest oak savannas in the Napa Valley.
Boey the goat knows what to do with the acorns with worm holes in them.
The goats supervise, happy to dispose of the acorns with worm holes! Evidently the hole is made by the worm on the way out. We contemplate the question as we work: how does the worm get in there?
In a Harmony with Nature report from the United Nations General Assembly, a recommendation is to include environmental experiences with our natural world in education of our children. The report, a summary from 120 experts representing 33 countries, stated that in this way children come to love the natural word and hopefully see nature as needing protection and legal standing.
Both boys are agriculturalists and hunter-gatherers. They love to work with the lavender and other aromatics on the ranch, and they are great gatherers and sorters of acorns. Watch for our next blog on cooking with acorns!
I have also noticed I have yet to get a ripe tomato. Sabien spends a fair amount of time in the garden watching for just the right ripeness and then plucketing and popping the tomato into his mouth!