Passion Forest
Autumn, the season of...
Gleaned from the web
We do not know who this autumn harvester is, but we really enjoyed their way of describing their little forest ranger quirks when autumn comes...
Happy reading, and thanks to them if they recognize themselves!
I collect acorns, every year, wherever I go, in Paris, Boursay, Mondoubleau, Vendôme, Roubaix, La Tour Blanche, Saint Maximin, Mulhouse or Burnhaupt, Laon, Caudry, Chauny, Caen, Gravelines, Dunkirk, St-Point, or Metz.
It's silly, collecting acorns, I look completely foolish, a real nut?
Currently, I always have dozens of acorns in the pockets of my raincoat or jacket. It's almost obsessive, if I see an oak, I bend down and pick up its acorns.
All these acorns from various origins, I put them in a box, mix them up and check every day, every other day.
As soon as I see that some of them start to sprout, I set them aside, and I go to plant them. When an acorn has started to sprout, it is indeed more certain that it has not been eaten by worms; thus, it is a young oak ready to start with an extremely high probability of success.
I must confess, as I am a bit of a maniac, and because I love biodiversity, I also collect hazelnuts and walnuts, chestnuts, or the little helicopters from maples called samaras.
I often have my pockets full, I bring them home and I plant them. There are all these people who lament that the state's budget for planting hedges has been reduced again. The state is weak and only thinks about its lunch tomorrow. The tree planter thinks about his grandchildren. The reality is that since Giono and 'The Man Who Planted Trees', we know that planting trees is an individual, ecological, spiritual, moral, aesthetic, and climatic responsibility.
Our true responsibility as Women and Men, towards our children. Me, you, them, who collect acorns, walnuts, chestnuts, maple helicopters, hazelnuts, pome fruits like wild apples or pears.
It's always very nice to plant trees.
You are going to sow the seeds you have collected on your walks, try to plant them, in the garden, on the edges of the garden, or to recreate hedges along the paths. All it takes is a stick. You push the stick. You make a hole in the soft earth. In the hole, you put an acorn, give a kick to close the hole.
Then you move a few meters further, make a hole, put a hazelnut, give a kick, and repeat, make a hole, put a walnut, a kick, move on and continue. Recreate dense groves, hedges, recreate forests, which together will create barriers against floods, which will recreate the water micro-cycle; it's our individual responsibility and it's actually extremely simple.
So go ahead... Plant trees here, everywhere around us!