The sky is falling!

An abundance of Acorns this season along the Coast of Maine.

I opened the umbrella while sitting on the deck this morning to enjoy my coffee and watch the water & the world go by - not to guard against the sun, but to avoid a concussion due to falling acorns. 

The only thing between my head and falling Acorn Bombs!

We've not only noticed an increase of acorns here at our home along the coast in Central Maine, but  friends in PA say it seems there are a lot of acorns there as well.

Does this mean we are going to have a COLD and SNOWY winter? 

Not sure, but as I began researching, I found more information (as usual) than EVER expected. 

Seems there are two factors thought to play a roll in this surge - 1) the weather, and 2) reproduction.

1) Weather is fickle, and in this case, if there's a wet, warm fall, the Oak trees will develop plenty of "female" parts. As long as there is a mild winter and then, Mother Nature holds off on delivering a late frost the next spring, those "female" parts bloom for about a week. During this time, they are fertilized by "the wind," and develop lots of male parts, aka acorns. This is when you need your hard hat! ( I could not help but hear the Age of Aquarius lyrics as I wrote this - click to hear the song or read below.)


When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
Oak trees will reproduce
Aquarius
Aquarius

2) Reproduction refers to the theory that the Oak tree "itself" decides it is time to expand the family and produces a lot of acorns. Science states this happens every 2-5 years and is termed predator satiation. Predator satiation occurs when the trees produce acorns abound - so many in fact - not all can be eaten by predators and any not socked away for winter are left in place or moved to another location. Hence, future baby Oak trees are scattered by birds and other animals of the forest.

The only FACT agreed upon by most during my research, is all of those acorns have no bearing on predicting the severity of the coming winter. (Hum...yeah right, 😏snowblowers at the ready!)

On a serious note...with the extra food available, there WILL indeed be more mice, squirrels, chipmunks, blue jays, wild turkeys, deer, and TICKS come 2020. Take precautions as your, and your pooch's, chances of contracting LYME Disease will also increase. 😒 

Keep that umbrella up or wear a hard hat - those big Oak trees produce up to 10,000 acorns a year!

Kelli

Sources and further reading:

A Forager's Life, Acorns Abound: The tale of the mighty oak.

ThoughtCo. Natural Signs that may predict winter weather.

CBS Boston: What an abundance of acorns means for the fall and winter 2015

Woods Whys: Acorns and weather
Farmers Almanac 2019-20 winter weather predictors
CBS Philadelphia