Inspired decades ago by the animated film "The Man Who Planted Trees". I collected buckets of acorns and black walnuts from the largest, healthiest trees I could find. My goal was to diversify a young, mostly maple and ash forest near my homestead. I planted many nuts just to find out the squirrels and other critters dug them up for food. Yes, I did try to protect them with mesh, cages, etc. It didn't stop those hungry squirrels. A whole lotta work for nothing. So, I watched the squirrels bury their nut cache at different times of the season and learned that they know just how to plant an acorn, by rolling it in to the ground, on its side, at the correct depth for optimum germination. So, for the last several years I've been collecting then dumping bucket loads of different types of acorn, at different times of the year, spring, summer and fall for the squirrels to do the planting for me. Yes, squirrels have excellent GPS like memories on where they plant their nut cache, but they do forget some. Now I have hundreds of little oak trees growing in this woodland. I hope in decades I will have a surplus of hardwood and acorns. Plus, plenty of food for the forest critters keeping them away from other nut producing plants like my prized hazelnuts.
