Weekly Garden Thread - October 8-14, 2022 [Acorns - They're Not Just for Squirrels Anymore, Edition]

October 8, 2022 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Bon of Babble]

Still fighting high heat in So Cal. In the 90s for the next week or to - so I'm holding off on planting my winter flower garden until this heat is over with.

Noticed either squirrels or tree rats are starting to get into my ripening pomegranates. Maybe because this one prefers to spend her days indoors where it's cooler:

Although she did catch a mouse last week (brought it into the house, as usual).

Not all of my re-blooming irises re-bloom in the fall, but this beautiful one did:

I also got a couple of late summer toad liles - they're very very small:

And, my "flamethrower" honeysuckle is blooming - no scent, unfortunately.

Happy gardening (and clean-up, which is about all I've been doing).

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Slide.....You incautiously mentioned "Hickory"!

Hickory/Northern Pecans. Current Range P. Pecan is as far north as Iowa and N. Illinois.

Northernpecans.blogspot.

For 37 years, Dr. William Reid was Pecan Research and Extension specialist for Kansas and Missouri. In retirement, he is tending his 30 acre pecan orchard and blogging his observations on pecan tree culture and management....snip

Slide over.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Japanese Honeysuckle...Great smell, totally invasive! I do not think they let you sell it here anymore!

It was a multi day project to remove the honeysuckle along my back lot line. It still rises from the grave in spots!

[metmom]

I have heard that white oak acorns are sweeter than the red oak variety.

[Ellendra]

Acorns can lighten the livestock feed bill as well. Ducks, geese, chickens, and goats all relish the seasonal bounty of oak trees. If allowed to free-range, waterfowl can forage for acorns directly, but chickens will require them to be smashed, as they can’t manage to crush them as waterfowl do. Goats gobble acorns wherever they can find them, chomping them merrily both fresh or dried.

Be aware that if egg-layers eat acorns, it can sometimes turn the yolks a weird color. This doesn't effect the flavor, but it can be off-putting. Especially if you're not expecting it!

Also keep in mind that the tannins in acorns are an anti-nutrient. It takes a LOT of acorns for that to be a problem, but if your animals start showing signs of nutritional imbalances, it would be wise to cut back on the amount of acorns they get.

That said, as long as you know what to watch out for, acorns are an awesome food source! When traveling I keep an eye out for unusually large acorns, and gather a few to plant on my land.

[metmom]

We’ve had a couple light frosts as well, with more expected this week.

I got in all the tomatoes and peppers and have covered the few remaining butternut squash so they can continue to ripen on the vine. Those are coming in tonight as we’re looking as several nights in a row with mid-thirties for temps. Not a freeze, but certainly a frost if clear. Plus, we’ll be out of town for the week, closing up our cottage. So in they come.

I got my garlic planted this week. I spent one day clearing out the beds and amending them with composted manure, bone meal, a bunch of coffee grounds, some crushed up eggshells, and some organic time released fertilizer.

The next day, I planted the cloves, about 150 of them. I could hardly move that night.

But the important thing is, next year’s crop is in.

Mr mm and I also spent hours splitting and stacking firewood. That didn’t help the sore factor.

[metmom]

We also have a lot of invasive honeysuckle.

This guy has great info on dealing with invasives which unfortunately requires judicious use of glyphosate. He has a number of very good videos that show and describe different plants and how to deal with them.

He and his wife both have degrees in botany, so he does know what he’s talking about and explains things very clearly.

The Woodland Steward.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNOkMhIb_LMsE-8EJUKDbzA

[Hot Tabasco]

The sunflowers were “giants” & most pulled out after working the stalk back & forth.

I just read that virtually all of the sunflower is edible. I'll leave that up to the experts tho, I'm not that adventurous.

[reformedliberal]

...where are those acorns?
______________________________________
I’m just a bit North of you, but IIRC, about 1/2 an Ag Zone earlier. When we travel South, it seems to be about a 2 week spread between half zones.

We were sweeping them off the deck a couple of weeks ago. But we had our 1st frost on the 23rd. There have been about 3-4 since. Hardest was last night....into the 20s.

I experimented with them last year. Ours are white Oak and Burr Oak and Pin Oak. It didn’t take more than 3 hot washes to leach. I read the Native Americans put them in a porous sack and left them in a cold, running stream for several days to leach them.

Shelling is tedious, but not difficult. They are fairly tasteless, but oily and high in protein. I roasted some w/oil and salt, but they remain softer than most nuts and the taste is bland.

I enjoy watching the Blue Jays use their beaks like a chisel to open them. They also stash them in crevices in the trees. They actually set up a sort of conveyor between a stash of fallen acorns and a popple to stuff them into the tree for winter use. Just a continuous flying convoy for about 20 minutes involving 3-4 birds.

IF we are ever in a real food shortage, I would utilize them. Otherwise, the time/energy is better spent on other crops.

[reformedliberal]

Let them dry in the sun a few days and the cap comes right off. Usually the shell will have a hairline crack you can pry open, but a mallet w/moderate force works.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“IF we are ever in a real food shortage, I would utilize them. Otherwise, the time/energy is better spent on other crops.”

Agreed. There are a lot of things I’d eat before acorns, but it’s good to know about any and all food sources Nature provides for us. :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks for the acorn cap tip! I have a small bowl of the Burr Oak acorns as ‘decor’ in the Family Room. They are rather pretty.

Our driveway is lined with Burr Oak, so when I go to get the mail later today, I’ll see what’s fallen so far. ;)

[Bon of Babble]

Honeysuckle is totally invasive in SoCal too - I keep it trimmed back - was here when we got here 30 years ago. I love the smell of it around my front porch. It is a beast.

The one I posted is in a pot - I hope to keep it contained and it is only supposed to grow 15 feet. We’ll see.

I battle morning glory in the back of my property - just when I think I’ve finally eradicated it, it rears up again. Fighting it right now and to this day.

[Qiviut]

So I looked up “Sunflowers” in ‘Secrets of Wildflowers’ by Jack Sanders (great book, btw).

Sunflower buds, before flowering, are pretty tasty boiled & eaten with butter, vinegar & pepper ‘in a manner similar to artichokes’.
Sunflower petals have been used to make yellow dye.
Of course, the seeds are the most useful ... roasted, ground (meal/flour), make sunflower oil, source of linoleic acid, etc.
The seeds are also good for fattening chickens, hogs & milking cows.
The leaves have been used as a tobacco substitute & the flavor was like “a mild Spanish tobacco”.
The leaves are also used for animal fodder.
Stems & seedless heads, when dried, serve as litter in poultry houses.
The pith of the sunflower stalks “is one of the lightest natural substances known, having a specific gravity of 0.028, compared to 2.24 for cork.” It was used to stuff life preservers.
The stalks have also been burned in heaps to obtain large quantities of potash from the pith to use as fertilizer.
Early settlers, especially in Canada, fed it whole to livestock.

The National Sunflower Association has a recipe for “Sunflower Cookies” & other recipes:

https://www.sunflowernsa.com/health/Recipes/CookiesBarsDesserts/SunflowerCookies/

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The way food supplies seem to be headed, we may be eating sunflower parts, before it’s all over.

[FamiliarFace]

I hate snakes. I owe my distaste to Adam & Eve. ;)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Qiviut. Lots of You Tubes on sunflower seeds! For food or for heat, if you use wood fuel! (Prepping for Russian Winter?)

Sunflower husk pellet making

Sunflower hulls; Like Cedar or Walnut, the hulls have something in them to suppress plant growth so use for weed suppression, but not in compost! https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/ingredients/sunflower-hulls-in-compost.htm

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Some plants are just like that! Hogweed, Japanese knotweed, Kudzu....

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

The japanese stiltweed looks a lot like nimblewill. I have nimblewill

[metmom]

Never heard of nimblewill.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Nimblewill