South Florida should have an Acorn Festival….there are more acorns in my yard than the 6 squirrels living here can handle. They aren’t even hiding them…not even from one another for fun. They let them lie, they let them pile up. I think they need to stay in the higher branches of the oak trees or they will be pummeled. This year there are more acorns than even the old timers can remember. They bang on the tin roofs, they bang on the metal tops of the cars, they hit the as he works on his morning hit of cat nip, and they cover each and every inch of this yard.

There seems to be no reason for this gift from mother nature….and no end to gift giving! Maybe she forgot and waved her magic wand one too many times over our town, maybe too many squirrels called to say there were no acorns last year! All I know is that there is a possible oak forest coming here and I’m not prepared.

We raked a portion of the yard and filled our trash buckets for
‘green’ to overflowing….Remember now that acorns are not ‘leaf light’ and are not easy to rake, or to get out of the slits between the patio boards.

The acorns just lay there…..and sprout, oh yes, they are sprouting! Remember all my wonderful happy garden stores about saving seeds and cleaning the earth…..I ain’t sav’in these seeds and I’m aching all over from ‘cleaning the earth’ today.

South Florida also offers up another surprise with its oak trees….they don’t lose their leaves until Jan/Feb and they take forever to drop…..and, on top of that, there are little fuzzy flowers that come after that……to make more acorns, of course!

I know you are feeling sorry for me, as 12″ of snow fall in Minneapolis, or Spokane. I can see the tears from those of you in Buffalo. But please, have a heart and understand that these little devils are now laying in places I cannot reach…..and their sprouts are sprouting as we speak…..Ever read Jack and the Beanstalk…..?