TheBanyanTree: The mighty oak

[John Bailey]

Sunday October 12, 2003

THE MIGHTY OAK

The acorns have been falling steadily all week, to the extent that they 
need sweeping up and clearing every other day. If this task is neglected 
then the drive and path quickly come to resemble a forest floor, all soft 
and comforting underfoot. Anyone who knows me will not be at all surprised 
to hear that I prefer it that way. A front door that opened onto a forest 
floor would be a constant delight to me; one that opens onto concrete slabs 
and ashphalt is a utility only. The one lets in the sights, sounds and 
smells of Nature. The other is a way out, no more, and if anything blows in 
when it is open it is road dust and discarded sweet wrappers.

My preference is of course completely out of place, so the mess has to 
cleared. I was a little shocked to learn of the puzzlement of my neighbours 
at the sudden massive fall of acorns. "It's never done that before," I've 
been told. Well, it has, of course, but oak trees don't produce huge 
quantities of acorns every year and these house have only been here for two 
or three years--no more than a couple of breaths in the life of an English oak.

So far as I understand it, the oak only produces and ripens acorns when and 
if weather conditions have allowed it to build up sufficient reserves 
during the growing season. An oak tree's primary aim is to ensure its own 
survival and if there is a cold spring or an unsuitable early summer then 
it puts off growing acorns until a more favourable season comes along. And 
if the weather turns hostile at any stage while the acorns are forming and 
ripening then the tree will cut off food supplies to them so that they 
wither and drop away there and then.

It's not an all or nothing thing of course, and sometimes only one branch 
or a few clusters of acorns will be shed in this way. The same applies to 
leaves and small growth. If they are severely afflicted with disease or by 
pests then they get dropped off during the growing season, too. That's why 
an oak tree is always surrounded by a field of discarded twigs and leaves, 
right through the summer.

The discarded stuff doesn't go to waste, of course, not in a normal 
situation. Rather, it moulds down, passing nutrition back into the soil 
and, most particularly, providing a good, nurturing environment for the 
bacteria, fungii, insects, birds and grazing mammals that cooperate with 
the oak tree throughout its life. In this way an oak tree can live for 
hundreds of years, until it hollows out and forms a small grove of what 
appears to be a ring of separate trees. In fact, I can't recall any account 
of an oak tree actually dying from old age; it may be that they go on and 
on, changing form and surviving until some accident destroys them.

You need to take a long term view to get to know an individual oak tree and 
I'm sad that I shall not be living here in this house to observe the one in 
our garden for more than a short time. You do need to be realistic about 
your friendship with trees, though. The oak tree you salute today is likely 
to outlive you many times over.

Some people find that to be a daunting thought; to me it's an affirmation 
that life goes on, endlessly cycling and adapting. My short ride may only 
be a small part but it is nonetheless a unit of something greater. It's 
entirely up to me if that unit is to be a worthwhile, contributory part or 
if, like the unwanted acorns, I am to be discarded before I am ripe.


--
John Bailey   Carmarthenshire, Wales
journal of a writing man
<http://www.oldgreypoet.com>