The Power of a Single Mighty Oak
I was walking through a neighborhood last winter and saw a mighty oak. There were a few other trees around, but none quite so big or SO GRAND as this oak. Have you ever seen such a tree? One that stops you in your tracks.
When I saw that single mighty oak in the neighborhood, I thought also of its deep roots drawing nutrients and moisture from deep underground. I though of the sheer amount of carbon it will pull from the atmosphere each season to knit together bark and wood and twigs and acorns and leaves. I thought of how many species it would feed with pollen, nectar, acorns, fresh leaves and insects.
Oaks are one of those keystone species that support disproportionately high levels of biodiversity and resilience in a landscape. Feeding over 450 different species of caterpillars, these amazing trees are “baby bird feeders” for a huge number of birds that feed their young ONLY caterpillars! Even bears and foxes and other mammals rely on caterpillars (as well as other insect protein) as important food sources! Just check out the size of this blinded sphinx caterpillar on an oak!
This winter take a look at the ground at your feet. See how many oaks you can find. Get to know them. Even the fallen leaves hold benefits: housing beneficial bugs like predatory mites within tiny hairs called acarodomatia on the leaf undersides, holding overwintering eggs of butterflies, supporting next season's fireflies, and blanketing the soil. Oak leaves are high in tannins and resistant breaking down, allowing them to hold space and cover for the ground longer than other species.
A single oak might be the difference between songbirds like chickadees nesting in your neighborhood or not. Or for warblers being able to "fuel up" in your neighborhood on their epic northward migrations. Or the difference in survival for all manner of insect-eating birds, mammals and other insects that support our ecosystems throughout the year. Even in coldest of winters many bugs can be found hidden in the bark of these mighty trees (like this winter firefly below).
Our oaks are keystone species. Oaks span all sorts of habitats around the world: swamps, mountainsides, deserts, urban streets, deep forests, farmland edges, barrens, and floodlands...
We used to eat acorns. We - people around the planet - used to be acorn people. Have we so quickly forgotten this wild and wildly nutritious food? Classes, lessons, teachers and courses are popping up for how to use this food again... even for oil! Gorgeous dark orange, completely non-bitter oil from those species of oak with high oil content are beginning to come into high end restaurants in the know. But the real secret is that ANYONE can use it. Anyone in on this supposed secret with a mighty oak as their neighbor. When you plant and care for an oak as your neighbor, you are planting food.
Begin to get to know them: these magnificent trees in your own neighborhood. How many and what kinds? Start being able to recognize their leaves. Notice them when you walk in fall. How many oaks do you see? Those oaks support a hidden life blood running among us.
Resources:
The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees by Doug Tallamy is a great book for a deeper dive into the amazing world of oak trees
Acarodomatia! Blog article by entomologist Charley Eiseman about the tiny hairs on the undersides of various leaves (including oaks) that house tiny mites that protect the oak from other micro-pests and pathogenic fungi! https://bugtracks.wordpress.com/2023/06/22/acarodomatia/
Acorn Oil and How to Make Acorn Flour are two different articles from The Forager Chef blog on using acorns as a food: https://foragerchef.com/acorn-oil/ and https://foragerchef.com/how-to-make-acorn-flour/
