First Fall Friday

The days are finally getting cooler. (This morning it was 45°.) Warmer clothes are starting to make an appearance again. The Man notices too, "Why are you wearing my shirt?"

Sophia is at the tail end (haha) of her annual molt. The other Ladies have not started dropping their feathers yet, I'm not sure why. I've been decorating a bare patch of dirt in our garden by planting bird feathers. A feather garden - no water required.

It's been a summer of heat waves and hot weather.

9/2/17 2:44 pm

We became attuned to listening for low-flying aircraft overhead. Often the steady drone of planes led us outside to witness the first wisps of smoke on the horizon.

7/7/17 4:59 pm

5:01 pm

 

9/3/17 5:54 pm

6/26/17 4:54 pm

5:00 pm

7:14 pm

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21:30 pm

First day of fall, we welcome you with open arms.

9/22/17 6:29 am

Tiny Houses

So, everyone knows that the mighty oak grows from a tiny acorn, right?

Then what the heck are those round fruit-like objects growing on our oak trees? That's the question I asked myself a few years ago when I encountered my first oak gall.

The oak galls (oak apples, oak marbles, gall nuts) are growths found on oak trees. They can be found on leaves or branches and occur when the gall wasp punctures a surface to lay it's eggs. Then the hatched larvae secretes a chemical irritant and the tree forms a gall - a growth or tumor - to protect itself. The gall becomes both food and shelter for the insect inside until the wasp reaches maturity and is able to chew it's way out. Weird but cool.

This morning I noticed a scattering of leaves on the driveway with attached oak galls. Fortunately the goats were not around to see me picking up the green oak leaves - their favorite tasty treat. I picked up a leaf, then another, and another, till finally I looked up. The tree above me was speckled with tiny pink oak galls.

Lo and behold, I found other types of oak galls just by turning over the leaves laying on the ground.

 

Here's another cool factoid: Oak galls are loaded with tannins (tannic acid) and have been used since the Middle Ages to the 1900's as an ingredient used in making inks and dyes.

I'm not interested in making iron gall ink but I did find a 3-ingredient recipe for a natural dye I could whip up with just a few crushed oak galls, vinegar (or lemon juice), and a bit of rust from rusty nails. That's it. I haven't tried it yet but it sounds easy-peasy and I've started keeping an eye out for the tiny treasures.