On a recent Friday I got the call from stalwart master naturalist Andrea Dono: The library was reporting that their seed bins were overflowing with walnuts and acorns donated for planting at the Department of Forestry nursery in Crimora. The situation sounded desperate. Since I had signed on to make the delivery run that week, I sprang into action.
When I arrived at the library I found somewhat less than a bushel of seeds from various donors, each bagged and labeled to species more or less in accordance with the guidelines DoF publishes for contributors. I hoped for the sake of the nursery staff that the collectors were able to identify the oaks to species, considering the challenge that can sometimes present even to seasoned botanists. Those oaks are so tribal, so regionally diverse. Hopefully the humans referred to the acorn nut identification guide also provided by DoF.
After transferring the seeds to my truck, and releasing the grubs and maggots emerging from them into the gutter, I made a call to Kathleen Fish with DoF. Andrea had told me she was our point person for the seed drive, and I needed to find out when I could drop off the goods in Crimora. I knew from an earlier visit that they run a lean operation, and sure enough, there isn’t even an office phone number published for the place. I learned from Kathleen when I could expect to find someone on site, and another interesting detail about the operation: In answer to my question, she said the donated seeds comprise a large part of those planted at the nursery. And the financial benefit is considerable, because the nursery operation is funded entirely by the proceeds from the trees they sell. And by providing the drop-off of seeds, Master Naturalists, true to our mission of supporting our sponsoring agencies, save staff resources formerly spent on the leg work I was engaged in. Good for us!
I dropped off my cargo on a drizzly morning, adding the proceeds to a collection growing within one of the barns that comprise the nursery headquarters. I followed an elderly gent toting a bucket of acorns. From my view they could have been Quercus rubrum, but I couldn’t
rule out velutina.
On my way out the drive I stopped to take a peak at the progress of some American chestnut hybrid seedlings I had helped plant last spring, curious to gauge our success. These seedlings are a project of the American Chestnut Foundation, which uses space at the nursery for its ongoing efforts to develop a strain of that legendary lost species that can self-perpetuate in its historic range.
I was amazed at the growth our seedlings had attained in barely six months! A tribute to regular care and consistent moisture. If only my tomatoes had fared as well through the summer. As I reflect on the experience I find myself thinking, there’s not much that compares to the satisfaction of contributing to the flourishing of the life of small but mighty things.
– Wick Fary