In November 2020, with fire season winding down, Amy needed to take an action of hope and vision for a positive future, and sprouting oaklings fit the bill! The idea was inspired by the California Native Plant Society’s “Re-Oak California” initiative:
“Not every acorn will survive, but those that do survive and grow will do wonderful things: provide homes to wildlife, feed pollinators, clean and recharge groundwater, and provide a playground for kids and cool shade for hikers. A 25,000 pound mature oak represents 50,000 pounds of carbon dioxide that has been pulled out of the atmosphere and turned into a thing of beauty.”
Amy gathered acorns from the ground beneath the vibrant, healthy Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia) that we see daily out our kitchen window. We have great affection for this tree and have watched it grow big and strong over the last twenty years. The sheep and dogs love to sleep in its shade on hot days.
Unsure of how well the acorns would sprout, if at all, Amy followed these steps:
- Refrigerate the acorns to give them a “winter chilling”
- Plant the acorns in containers with potting soil
- Treat the newly planted acorns with diluted SPICE compost extract to encourage rooting
- Keep the pots in a shady, protected place, wait, and see what happens; water about every other day
Winter Chilling
The acorns went into a big ziplock bag layered with some potting soil. The bag stayed in the barn refrigerator for two months. This gave a nice, deep chill to mimic overwintering and support better sprouting.
Potting
In January 2021, Amy planted the acorns. Some acorns went into tree pots, one per pot, planted about halfway up the pot height. The remainder went into a rectangular plastic container, spread together on top of about 2″ of potting soil, then covered with about 6″ of potting soil.
Amy used “bunny baskets” made of hardware cloth to help protect the pots from the predations of visiting rats, mice, and birds, who love the nutrient-rich sprouts and pick them out of the pots if given half a chance.
SPICE-ing
Then, Amy treated the pots with some of Gerry Gillespie‘s SPICE Compost extract, diluted 1:100, made with rainwater.
We learned about Gerry’s magic SPICE brew from Dr. Christine Jones at a Fibershed workshop, and we love and respect it! SPICE seems good for helping seeds sprout, helping vegetable plants give more yield, helping sick plants recover . . . In short, it’s just good to have around if you are working with plants.
Waiting
Then the waiting and hoping began: Oaklings, will you come?
Amy watered the containers with our city water every few days. Time passed with no sign of life. Then on March 5, 2021 . . . she noticed a 1/2″ high sprouting oakling in one of the tree pots! This caused dancing, whooping, singing, fetching the husband, sending snapshots via text . . . in short, celebration. Looking closely, she then saw some rooting action through the “window” of the clear plastic rectangular pot:
So, we were off to the races. Oakling project, on!
And then came the abundance.
Whether it was the SPICE brew; Amy’s real human need for hope and a positive outcome; good timing; luck; or some other reason (or maybe all of them, and maybe more we don’t even dream of)—my oh my, did we get oaklings; more than we could ever plant here on the farm.
Giveaway
So began the next phase of the project: Oakling Giveaway. The first recipient was our darling friend Nadia:
The local, private Facebook group Farmers’ Black Market led to 60 oaklings finding new homes with local farmers and householders. We took about 150 to Mostly Natives Nursery in Point Reyes Station, in honor of the memory of Margaret Graham, one of the original nursery owners. A Professor of Forestry took 26 for a nursery crop for his students, to teach “that there is more to forestry than cutting down trees.” The remaining oaklings will live here on the farm.