Oak Galls du Jour - Jumping Galls!

Every now and then - it used to be when I was enduring a droning conference call, but since thankfully those are few and far between it's more likely when I just have a spare moment of inspiration - I do what I call an action verb + oak search.  Dancing oak.  Laughing oak.  Don't ask me why.  We all know why: I am a complete oak geek.

Today's search was Jumping Oak.  And, as always, the Magic Google Machine had an answer: not jumping oaks, per se, but oak galls that literally do jump.  I have never heard of or seen this before, but it's awesomely cool.

First read this. Oak galls are essentially wasp houses - or, more accurately, wasps tricking oak trees into building them a snug house in which the larvae can develop.  Some galls, especially here in California, can grow to the size of applies or larger.  Some, like these jumping galls, are puny.  All are indicative of how oaks support thousands of species without prejudice. 

Then watch this.  I don't have sound on my computer so I hope the guy isn't cursing a blue streak.  If he is a) he really needs to get a life and b) I apologize.

Have you seen any jumping oak galls?

Oak Gall du Jour

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That's one humongous oak gall!  California white oak (Quercus lobata), Santa Margarita, CA.

For my Midwestern, Eastern and Southeastern readers the scale can be a bit deceiving in terms of the size of the gall relative to the size of the leaves.

(Click to enlarge)

 

California white (a.k.a. valley) oak leaves can be wee itty bitty.  The leaves on this particular tree aren't that small, but they are nowhere near the size of the white oak (Quercus alba) that you are used to seeing; if they were the gall would be the size of a rugby ball.

As it is the call is still nearly as big as a soda can (that's pop can to you Minnesota friends).  Not that I'd know for sure, and not that I don't have about two dozen Mountain Dew can rolling around the floor of my truck.

I really, really need to get going on making some oak gall ink.  Promise:  One post written in oak gall ink by next week.  It's up to you to hold me to it!

Oak gall du jour

Oak gall from a California live oak (Q. agrifolia) in the hills above my house.

I'm going to try my hand at making oak gall ink soon.

http://www.ehow.com/way_5251227_oak-gall-ink-recipe.html

http://boingboing.net/2007/10/01/howto-make-medieval.html
This site has some interesting factoids, and some advice that might foil my attempts: It says be sure to use galls that the wasps have not yet left (as evidenced by the exit holes) because the tannin content is higher.  I'll still give it a try.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1407260/make_your_own_oak_gall_or_iron_gall.html?cat=4

Oak gall ink was the favored ink of Leonardo and Bach.  Unfornately, "corrosive to cellulose" is probably not a great property for ink to have.  At least not if you are the paper.

The Beauty of Kells

Friday night has become pizza and movie night around our house, primarily so that our children realize what that ugly box with the glass screen is for (since they don't see its hypnotizing glow any other time).

This past weekend was The Secret of Kells, a gorgeously animated movie telling the story of the creation of the Book of Kells during a time of darkness and constant danger in Ireland.  Not to go all two thumbs up Siskel and Ebert on you here, but if you have upper grade school or middle school aged kids, they should see this...

... but first they (and you - and I, since I had only a hazy understanding of it) should know the back story of the book.

It was, of course, done largely with oak gall ink.  I have linked to this wiki page several times before.  I thought as a complete change of pace that I might actually read it this time.  I have written before about how one minor problem with oak gall ink - the high quality ink of choice for important documents from da Vinci to Bach - is that over time it eats the very surface upon which it is written. 

According to wiki: "The acidity of iron gall ink is well known but it must also be observed that the case for the acidity of iron gall ink is somewhat overstated. There are several thousands of manuscripts, some of them well over 1,000 years old, with iron gall ink on them that have no damage or degradation whatsoever from the iron gall ink."  Apparently degradation is much less of a problem with vellum than with paper, which helps explain the generally good condition of The Book of Kells - especially considering everything it has been through.

Imagine the times!  9th century Ireland.  Vikings, borne across the sea with terrifying speed in oak ships (whose equal would not be seen again until the 19th century) that seem to literally swim across the waves, are raiding the coastal areas including the rich abbey at Iona, dispersing monks to monasteries in Ireland and Scotland.  Dedicated monks painstakingly concocting oak gall ink, stretching vellum, and sitting in the scriptorium by flickering candle or oil lamp light to create works of art awe inspiring beauty, designed to bring light - to illuminate - a world that seemed bathed in darkness in fear... all the while feeling - knowing - that the next Norse attack could come at any time. 

The Book of Kells is what happens when belief and hope flow through gifted and dedicated hands to simple natural media of incredible permanence.  Although personally I believe fairies were also involved somehow.

Happy Oak Apple Day... 5 months early

Imagine celebrating - or at least commemorating - the 300+ year old re-establishment of your monarchy by wearing oak galls (aka oak apples) or sprigs of oak leaves!

Imagine also that "...in the 1960s it was the custom on Oak Apple Day that the chairs used by staff during school assembly were lined with nettles and brambles. The staff were then expected to sit on them without protest during assembly. At the end of assembly the pupils were granted a half-day holiday."

Both of which go to prove two things:

We're not as far from our pagan/druid heritage as some would have us think.

The British are really, really weird.

50 Oak Watch bonus points (whose value is truly beyond measure) to the reader/friend who reminds us all of Oak Apple Day on May 29. 

100 points to everyone who wears an oak gall.

Oak Gall Envy

I'm fascinated by oak leaf galls, and have put several photos of various types on this blog.

I came across this page with an incredible assortment of oak leaf galls found in Monterey County California.
Awesome!

You Be The Judge

(Click to enlarge)

Stale dinner roll or oak gall cut open?

And yes, to answer your question, I did taste it.  Very tannic.  With a hint of pumpernickel. 

Oak Gall du Jour

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I hate, hate, hate business travel.  I hate flying.  I hate being away from my family.

There are only two things that make business travel tolerable:  Meeting customers face to face and working together to solve their problems, and seeing new oak trees - or at least oak trees I don't see very often.

Valley Oak.  Central California.  That is one awesome oak gall.  And to think that wasps are somehow, through some unfathomable combination of witchcraft and alchemy, able to get the oak to manufacture this home for them.

Just another way that oaks sustain life.  Just another oaken miracle.

And as I've discussed before oak galls yielded the permanent - to the point of being eternal - ink with which so many masterworks were penned.  Bach's Concertos.  Leonardo's drawings.  The ink will last forever.  Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the paper though which oak gall ink gradually eats.

Which is another way that oaks sustain life in the form of job security.  For document conservators ;-)

Oak Gall du Jour

Thanks to David for the great photo! (click to enlarge)  Just one more species (in this case wasps) that rely on the life-giving power of oaks.  Now we humans just need to re-learn that and we'll be as intelligent as wasps.

Oak Gall Du Jour

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This time of year the leaves of any oak tree look like wounded warriors, having hung on through humid heat waves that breed foliar fungi, hail storms, 80 mph straight line winds and a cloud of hungry insects.

Then at some point wasps lay their eggs and somehow magically, mysteriously induce the tree to form a gall that both protects and nourishes the wasp larva.

I think oak galls are incredibly cool, in part because I love having some things that science can't yet explain (or even pretend to explain) such as how they form.

Oak gall ink is made from galls called marble galls or "oak apples." Its amazing permanence made it the ink of choice for the most important works of art (Bach's compositions, da Vinci's drawings) and political documents.

One minor problem: Oak gall ink might last forever. The paper on which it is written, however, does not. Oak gall ink gradually eats away at the paper over time. Creating stencils of da Vinci's drawings, and lots job security for conservators.

The ultimate in oak geekdom: A photo of oak galls against a red oak floor I installed myself. No comments on the quality of my sanding please.

Oak Gall du jour

Pink urchin gall on swamp white oak. Click on image to enlarge. Suitable for framing!

Oaks play host to more creatures than nearly any other tree genus. Galls are made by wasps as a home and food source for larvae. They rarely harm the host oak, and a single mature oak is, by midsummer, host to several different types of gall wasp, each producing its own distinctive gall.

Inside each is a labyrinth of safety and all the food the wasp larva(e) needs.