A Tree Fell

[so lucky]

Odd that the discussion of oak issues should come right now: My son is having a problem with one of his camellias; brown spots on the leaves, some yellowing leaves, etc. I was searching on the net trying to find something to account for it, and came across Sudden Oak Death, for which camellias are a carrier of the disease. It is apparently a big problem in California, but as far as we know, it has not arrived in Missouri yet. I don't know where that camellia he has came from. It possibly takes years to show up. He did a little more research and doesn't think that is what it is on his plant. I sure can't identify the problem. I hope it's not something fatal.

 

[897tgigvib]

Smart, we sometimes find mortars and pestles, I've only found pieces of them, in this area. The Yuki used and made a Matate flat system for grinding and heating on, and the Pomo used and made the classic mortar pestles. In this area a major food source was the Oak's acorns.

Do not try it alone without being taught how to first. There are 2 specific leach processes that have to be done to remove the tannic acids. Tannic acids are not an immediate kill type poison, but I hear tell it'll mess your system up, probably give an ulcer, and make a person real sick.

But when leached, acorns provide good proteins that go well with meat.

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I understand that the fungus phytophthera is carried by several plants. It's a complex thing. California is just stingy about letting in agricultural products because i guess they don't understand it all yet. Come on UC Davis! Figure it out! >>>They are doing an admirable job! Actually, I heard Davis is working on a fungus resistant oak tree strain.

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Yea, cane, you know the routine...lots of pictures. Bark photos, young bark, old bark, spring leaves, mature acorns...where the tree came from assorted info and all clues you have We'll figure it or get close to it!!! Between digit knowing how to find websites, thistle's determination, some experience here, smart's brains, ridge's sense, and stubborn's help, plus carol cheering us on, we'll figure it out!

 

[digitS']

I am told we actually have 11 kinds of Oak around here. . .

I wonder where the "Oregon Oak" fits into that group.

You know how on the mentoring thread folks were talking about learning? I was curious about the name of Bob's "Valley Oak" and checked on Wikipedia. It isn't the one that ranges from just north of San Francisco all the way into Washington State. That seems to be the Oregon Oak, Quercus garryana. It is also called the Garry oak. "The tree is named after Nicholas Garry, deputy governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1822-35."

Wait a minute, I know someone named for a governor of the HBC named Garry: Spokane Garry. It is possible that no one else has an interest in this but I did a few minutes of checking and, yep, the same Hudson's Bay guy.

Spokane Garry was the son of the Indian whose name now graces the city and river in eastern Washington. Spokane's son was taken to central Canada for education. One of 3 Indian boys, he is the only one who survived the experience.

Spokane Garry also survived for 80-some years and never came to agreement with the US government regarding a reservation for his people. He stayed right beside what became a fairly good-sized city during the last few years of the 19th century. He saw it all, from the arrival of the 1st fur traders to urban America.

Not all that different from elsewhere, the reservation was imposed on the Spokanes. It was created by President Rutherford B. Hayes, by executive order - not negotiated, as I understand it. Spokane Garry said that the tribe could not live on such a small piece of ground. Other Spokanes agreed with him and many of them went off to the Couer d'Alene reservation.

I wonder what Spokane Garry thought of using a white man's name. He probably felt that it could be used against the Americans since it connected him with the British & Canadians. His life may have been long but he was never successful in increasing the Spokanes' territory and died in a teepee in a canyon west of the city.

The name thing also exists with "the Colville" which isn't really a tribe but a reservation. At least 2 different native people were assigned to life there. They have very different languages so, one must assume, didn't consider themselves all that close ethnically. And Colville? Another Hudson Bay Company governor. He was the son of a Jamaican sugar cane plantation owner, aka a major slave holder. How the native people on the Colville reservation think of that, I don't know. Probably just another troubling part of their history.

Steve

 

[897tgigvib]

Waiting on Cane's photos

I've seen several different kinds of evergreen oaks, and am sure there are a bunch. My guess offhand is that is another part of the quercus genus.

 

[digitS']

Marshall, you live right across the Sacramento Valley and a few mountain ridges from the home of Ishi. Ishi the last member of the Yahi (link)

He died on March 25, 1916.

"Included alongside his remains were 'one of his bows, five arrows, a basket of acorn meal, a boxful of shell bead money, a purse full of tobacco, three rings, and some obsidian flakes.'"

digitS'

 

[thistlebloom]

I've lived under coast live oaks. Very painful tree to walk under barefoot, the leaves have sharp thorny edges.

Sadly, the devastating fire of 2003 in the San Diego Cuyamaca and Laguna mountains wiped out the ancient native oaks, Coast, Live and Black. They are recovering from acorns, and some tree roots have sent up shoots, but it will be a couple of hundred years before it resembles anything like it was.

 

[897tgigvib]

I have read several editions of that book Digit. I recently purchased a fine edition of it, read it, and gave it to a friend, the one whose blackberry pie recipe I will try to get. Special is the crust!