Acorns

Silje and David recently got their checks from their 4H fair projects. This was their first time contributing projects. David got $7 and Silje got about $14. That’s a lot of money for my kids, and it lit a fire under them. I suggested to them that they do one 4H fair project a month, so that by next county fair, they have 12 projects (plus animals, etc.) all ready.

David started collecting acorns. I wasn’t sure why.

I’ve heard that oak trees go through cycles of every few years dropping a bumper crop of acorns, and this appears to be that year because our yard is packed with acorns. He filled a huge container of them, and our driveway is still full of them.

He then told me he was going to be an oak tree farmer. He wanted to sell oak trees. With the money he made from that, he was going to buy himself some pigs and be a pig farmer too. He had it all figured out.

When David decides to do something, he fixates on it and I was worried he had no idea what he was doing. With his 4H enthusiasm going strong, I told him this would make an excellent fair project.

So I told him to check out the library for some oak tree books. Most of the books he and the librarian found were about the life cycle of oaks, but none of them had much how-to information. He wanted to just dig hundreds of holes in our yard, but I knew that may prove disastrous. He was not happy with the idea of planting one or two acorns either. How could he make a profit off of that? Plus, it might be a few years before the oak tree has a bumper crop of acorns again! It just had to be this year. If he had hundreds of acorns, he was seeing hundreds of dollar signs, and wasn’t willing to let good of good profit like that.

So together we turned to Google, and found this site, which is the diagram we are using for this project.

First we took his acorns, and dropped them in water to see if they would float. The sinking ones are supposed to germinate, and the floating ones are already “dead.” This picture is just of him starting out. We filled this bucket with acorns multiple times.

Next we grabbed some Ziploc bags, and some wood chips from the bag we use for the chickens’ bedding, and added some water. With wet wood chips, and a bit over a month in the fridge, these acorns should start showing a root. I was expecting most of the acorns to be dead, but the vast majority were good to go.

So now there are 4 of these packed, gallon sized Ziplocs taking up space in my fridge. Now I’m trying to figure out what to plant these all in, and where on earth to keep them this winter. I think I have a plan forming on where to put David’s crop of trees. I talked with David’s great aunt who is a master gardener, and she gave me the name of a place where I could buy some perfect soil for trees for when they are at the planting stage, and suggested we buy a big pack of paper cups for our pots. (All of which David and I are keeping an itemized list, so he can see the cost and profit margins of his whole project.) If this works I may ask our local farmer’s market if he can get a booth for his seedlings next summer. Well, that’s my idea. David wants to hold onto them for 10 years or so, because you can make more money on larger trees. I’m trying to convince him that he could sell some of the seedlings next summer, to pay for his costs, and keep only a handful over for the next year. I told David I’m charging him 1 oak tree for rent for the use of the fridge for the month, and for space for his seedlings that will likely grow this winter in our front entryway, at least for now.

We struck a deal.

I know just where I want to plant that oak tree, too.

Maybe someday, David will buy this house from us, like we bought it from Knut’s parents. Maybe he’ll have a big oak grove he can say he planted when he was just a boy. Maybe.

To see Part 2 of David’s Acorn Adventure, click here.

Comments

Sarah says
September 5, 2013 at 2:06 pm

Oh my goodness, this is so wonderful. It inspires me to find a way to make my kids feel like their ideas are valued and taken seriously. Thanks for sharing!

Donna says
September 5, 2013 at 6:56 pm

What a great idea!!

Amanda says
September 5, 2013 at 8:04 pm

Lovely! Interesting timing too, because I’ve collected a few acorns of my own to start up for the future. My issue with potting them up is that I am concerned about their taproot. I think you have to keep potting and potting in deeper pots as they grow so the tap root doesn’t swirl in the bottom of the pot. A swirly taproot will make a weak tree when it is full grown. So I’m off to the fridge with my waiting acorns! What fun!

Devon Mama says
September 6, 2013 at 7:04 am

This is fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing…we’ll be watching how David’s project goes with interest; perhaps we’ll start one of our own here…food for thought 🙂

Hachi says
September 9, 2013 at 2:29 pm

I love that David is so enthusiastic about everything he does. And that his will doesn’t seem to peter out even with all the hard work involved. It’s amazing how this project explores biology, math, and economics too.

By the way, when I read this aloud to my friend Shunsuke, the first thing he said was to feed the pigs the acorns from the trees he grows to improve the meat. Apparently they love love them! (I didn’t know that!) Is that why David thought of the pigs?

Oh, and if he eventually makes some sausage down the line he wants some. 🙂

-Melissa

Erin says
September 12, 2013 at 3:09 am

Hi Gretchen! This is such a great post lol I love David’s drive, excitement and passion! What a smart kid lol! I have a proposal-we live way up here in Alberta Canada, and we have no such thing as acorn…perhaps David would be interested in selling a little package of acorns to some girls who would love to do some fall crafts with them ( their mommy included!) What do you think? I could send some money for the acorns and the shipping and when you get it, he could send them and maybe a letter to go with them? Let me know what you think, because we would LOVE some acorns over here!
Erin
hopeandfaith27@yahoo.com

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