It's been a Nutty Year!

Have you noticed more acorns than usual on your deck, sidewalks and driveway this year? You are not alone! Does that mean we’re in for a harsh winter? Or does it mean we had a hot dry summer? The answer is none of the above!

Oak trees produce acorns on a regular basis. Trees in the white oak family (like scrub oak) have acorns that mature in one year. Red oaks take two years to have their acorns mature. At irregular intervals (2-5) years, oak trees produce an unusually large supply of acorns. This is called a “mast” year. Scientists have no explanation as to what causes a mast year. It is unrelated to past or future weather and has no pattern that can be explained.
 

​The benefit of the mast year is that there tends to be extra acorns that the squirrels, deer, blue jays, turkeys, chipmunks and other animals can’t devour. This allows some acorns to escape being eaten and they turn into oak trees.  This is a moot point in the case of our gambel (scrub) oaks, as they almost never grow from an acorn, but generally from sprouts from an existing root system of another tree.

Can people eat acorns? Yes, but it is a lot of work and you need to be careful! You need to crack the nuts, remove the shells and soak the meat in warm water for several hours to leach out the tannic acids, which cause nausea and digestive distress if consumed. After they are free of tannic acids, feel free to roast them, toast them or grind them into flour! Let us know how they turn out!