Hey! Who planted this oak tree here?

I have found numerous little white oaks growing in my backyard, and around the neighborhood. Add to this chestnuts growing in every hedge and wall. All of which brings much delight!

I have assumed in my thinking that the squirrels or rats that I see run across the fence are likely seed and nut depositors in the hedge and wall bank. But I’ve never seen them burying acorns in this yard.

But whoever has been planting has sure been busy at it. By the way, I have three of these trees potted-up, and this one pictured is also available. My first guess is that they are Garry Oaks. There are Garry oaks (Quercus garryana) not too far from here. My second guess is that they are English oaks (Quercus robur), though I haven’t encountered one in my neighborhood.

But while out walking one saturday in my neighborhood, I encountered a nice scrap of 1” thick clear oak lumber, about 9”x11”. I’m currently sawing, planing and squaring it up to make a wooden box. The box will include an assortment of other woods scraps, including alder and douglas fir.

The fir is some lovely tight grained wood from a house remodel I happened to walk by. It’s more than a bit sad to see such wood tossed out. Such wood is not a renewable resource. The old-growth timber was a one-time withdrawal for this civilization. No matter what concepts and models timber companies have propagated since the 1940’s, growing trees is not like growing corn. And it’s arguable whether corn is strictly renewable, at least as grown on industrial scale. The soils of the American plains, once under the plough, were a one-time withdrawal, without human communities living with other species in way that built them.

We do have help from other creatures, and a divine Spirit tending the creation. The other creatures are already planting trees, planting the forest, tracing out its emerging contours as they clamber over our fences, and fly from tree branch to ground.

I was waiting on someone in my front yard this week, when I noticed this jay hopping about. It had what looked like a nut, or a plum pit, in its beak. It hopped watchfully by me, and proceeded to bury the seed in the ground, and carefully cover it with grass and yarrow stems.