Autumn 2019: ACORNS!!!!
10-06-19, 07:57 AM
#1
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Autumn 2019: ACORNS!!!!
Long Island 10/19: I thought it was just me, but I just heard on NPR that 2019 is a record year for acorns in the northeast. I've been dodging these nasty little nuts all month, barely avoiding spin-outs from them on a few occasions and constantly deflecting them with my helmet. Sometimes it feels like the squirrels are waiting for me up in the trees so they can pelt me as I ride by.
Has anybody else noticed more acorns falling and scattered across the roads than usual?
Has anybody else noticed more acorns falling and scattered across the roads than usual?
10-06-19, 05:15 PM
#2
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I had plenty "popping" from under my tires.
They can be as sharp as glass and I expect to find cuts sooner or later.
They can be as sharp as glass and I expect to find cuts sooner or later.
10-07-19, 09:27 AM
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That explains a lot. I did a three-day tour a couple of weekends ago. Not only did I pop a ton of them while riding they were falling from the trees at my campsite 24/7. When I first arrived in camp I started to pitch in one area but then realized my tent would be pelted so I picked another area that wasn't under an oak tree.
10-07-19, 09:29 AM
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I just came back from an old Boston suburb. Yes, one of the vintage years. Yesterday I noticed more acorns under a Portland, OR oak that I ever remember in my 32 years on the Pacific NW.
Acorns - the new gravel.
Edit: Acorns are like poison ivy. Some years everything falls into place. Rain, both amount and when. Gypsy moths, yes or no? (Sounds like the oaks are celebrating no moths.) Did the winds collaborate to pollinate?
I read a fascinating book that speculated that oaks/acorns may have been a driving force toward agriculture and civilization. Acorn meat, a food that keeps for several years and is a near complete nutrition source. (Meaning a stationary population could survive a poor year or two.) It took teamwork to gather, grind and prepare that many acorns. But too many people, too many trees get cut to burn and build shelter so offspring have to travel to a new site to start from scratch while the village, now depleted of oaks adjusts to growing other food plants in the fields now cleared of oak trees and raise animals in place of the forest animals they used to hunt.
So we can curse acorns, but we might not be here without them.
Ben
Acorns - the new gravel.
Edit: Acorns are like poison ivy. Some years everything falls into place. Rain, both amount and when. Gypsy moths, yes or no? (Sounds like the oaks are celebrating no moths.) Did the winds collaborate to pollinate?
I read a fascinating book that speculated that oaks/acorns may have been a driving force toward agriculture and civilization. Acorn meat, a food that keeps for several years and is a near complete nutrition source. (Meaning a stationary population could survive a poor year or two.) It took teamwork to gather, grind and prepare that many acorns. But too many people, too many trees get cut to burn and build shelter so offspring have to travel to a new site to start from scratch while the village, now depleted of oaks adjusts to growing other food plants in the fields now cleared of oak trees and raise animals in place of the forest animals they used to hunt.
So we can curse acorns, but we might not be here without them.
Ben
Last edited by 79pmooney; 10-07-19 at 09:42 AM.
10-07-19, 01:29 PM
#6
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Yes, a pretty heavy mast year. Deer this fall will be well fed, and thus a bit less likely to be incautious during daylight hours, or so it is said. Good news for critters both large and small........for us, maybe not so much.
https://www.caryinstitute.org/news-i...d-lyme-disease
https://www.caryinstitute.org/news-i...d-lyme-disease
10-24-19, 07:43 AM
#7
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*
10-24-19, 08:13 AM
#8
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Long Island 10/19: I thought it was just me, but I just heard on NPR that 2019 is a record year for acorns in the northeast. I've been dodging these nasty little nuts all month, barely avoiding spin-outs from them on a few occasions and constantly deflecting them with my helmet. Sometimes it feels like the squirrels are waiting for me up in the trees so they can pelt me as I ride by.
Has anybody else noticed more acorns falling and scattered across the roads than usual?
Has anybody else noticed more acorns falling and scattered across the roads than usual?
10-24-19, 12:05 PM
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10-24-19, 12:26 PM
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10-24-19, 02:18 PM
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10-25-19, 05:44 AM
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10-25-19, 03:39 PM
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The dog already thanked me.
10-25-19, 05:48 PM
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