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May. 30th, 2010 12:12 amMy friend Seamus went a bit mad on his house-side shrubbery with hedge clippers this morning; there was a stack of wood and leaf as high as my eye and too wide to leap over. I noticed some ~7/8" stick-ends pointing out of it when we pulled into his drive and thought AHAH! Have been on the lookout for these for a while; got an idea that wants small cookies of oak. Trouble is, when I see piles of cut wood like this in folks' lawns, I don't know 1) how long it's been lying there 2) what sort of wood is in the mix, or 3) how they'd feel about a random stranger sawing bits off and driving away with them.
Yes, I know, they've put the stuff out for the city to haul away; it's gone to them. But I'm not the city and some folk get odd. So. Here was wood I knew to be fresh and whose human I knew to have the "If you have a use for it, haul it away" mentality. Little voice in my head says "Bet if you look, you'll find oak bits in there."
And lo, there were. And lo, the oak leaves I found were still attached to five feet of slender stick. I bounced in to double check with Seamus that making off with bits of his woodpile was cool; he didn't even blink, only told me where to find the shears. Huzzah!
So off I went to harvest my sticks. Whee!
Only when I get home do I start to wonder, though, exactly what variety of oak have I got?
Thankfully, one of the little cut-off bits with leaves still on hitched a ride home with me. So I'm looking at its leaves and thinking water oak (long and slenderish, only three shallowish, rounded lobes when there are lobes, shallow sinuses), except it's not waxy/glossy on the one side like other water oaks I've seen. And I'm remembering other leaves that were on the big stick which looked more obviously oaky. More lobes though they're still rounded, deeper sinuses, still tender and not glossy, but less slim, more...~shrug~ like an oak. Like a hand.
The bark of the whole, sapling-sized thing has a vague greenish cast to it, and the wood is a bright white.
Extra-fun is the new-to-me information that oaks within a family (Quercus, say) can sometimes hybridise and produce viable fruit. Heh. I can't help it. The word "hybrid" is linked in my head to the phrase Nothing good can come from a Doodle.
~shrug~ Not that any of it makes me like the wood any less.
On the one side: This stuff likes me enough to whistle at me from the roadside; this is probably what matters.
But on the other: It'd be nice to know the material's metaphysical inclinations.
I mean, it's a fine thing to get along well with someone and make a fast, deep friendship; it's still useful to know that if you ever lose your keys, your new friend is the person to call to break in and hotwire the car. You know?
Here's hoping if I swing back by Seamus's tomorrow, the leaves'll grab me again and I'll be able to find a good ID on 'em (or failing that, post pictures and appeal to the LJ hivemind).
And then there's figuring out how best to dry these things so I can get viable cookies off 'em.
Hm.
Glad it's a long-term idea.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In other news: MEAD!!!!!
Yes, I know, they've put the stuff out for the city to haul away; it's gone to them. But I'm not the city and some folk get odd. So. Here was wood I knew to be fresh and whose human I knew to have the "If you have a use for it, haul it away" mentality. Little voice in my head says "Bet if you look, you'll find oak bits in there."
And lo, there were. And lo, the oak leaves I found were still attached to five feet of slender stick. I bounced in to double check with Seamus that making off with bits of his woodpile was cool; he didn't even blink, only told me where to find the shears. Huzzah!
So off I went to harvest my sticks. Whee!
Only when I get home do I start to wonder, though, exactly what variety of oak have I got?
Thankfully, one of the little cut-off bits with leaves still on hitched a ride home with me. So I'm looking at its leaves and thinking water oak (long and slenderish, only three shallowish, rounded lobes when there are lobes, shallow sinuses), except it's not waxy/glossy on the one side like other water oaks I've seen. And I'm remembering other leaves that were on the big stick which looked more obviously oaky. More lobes though they're still rounded, deeper sinuses, still tender and not glossy, but less slim, more...~shrug~ like an oak. Like a hand.
The bark of the whole, sapling-sized thing has a vague greenish cast to it, and the wood is a bright white.
Extra-fun is the new-to-me information that oaks within a family (Quercus, say) can sometimes hybridise and produce viable fruit. Heh. I can't help it. The word "hybrid" is linked in my head to the phrase Nothing good can come from a Doodle.
~shrug~ Not that any of it makes me like the wood any less.
On the one side: This stuff likes me enough to whistle at me from the roadside; this is probably what matters.
But on the other: It'd be nice to know the material's metaphysical inclinations.
I mean, it's a fine thing to get along well with someone and make a fast, deep friendship; it's still useful to know that if you ever lose your keys, your new friend is the person to call to break in and hotwire the car. You know?
Here's hoping if I swing back by Seamus's tomorrow, the leaves'll grab me again and I'll be able to find a good ID on 'em (or failing that, post pictures and appeal to the LJ hivemind).
And then there's figuring out how best to dry these things so I can get viable cookies off 'em.
Hm.
Glad it's a long-term idea.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In other news: MEAD!!!!!
