OAKS

I love oaks. I live on 6 acres dominated by oak trees. They are tall, beautiful and majestic as they lift lobed-leaves to the heavens seeking the sunshine they need to survive. Each Summer and Fall their acorns shower down on us as the squirrels cut them from the stems and drop the empty hulls to the ground below.

I appreciate the oaks most of all in the winter for the warmth their wood provides as it burns in my wood stoves. The red oaks are the best fire wood trees in the forest. The grow straight, tall with only a few branches and provide a wood that is easy to cut and split. We have used a wood stove for our primary heat source since 198o. At least 9o % of the wood I have burned over that time was from red oaks.Oaks are the most ecologically valuable tree in the woods as well.

Besides the squirrels other creatures such as deer, bears, turkeys and the various rodents that call the oak forest home gain much of their food from the acorns and brouse oaks provide.Posted by Dick Brown