Why Blue Oak? Well the Blue Oak(Quercus douglasii) has adapted to it's enviroment. It takes what it is given and survives. It has been called the acacia tree of the sierra because it sometimes can be the only tree on a barren hill. It starts life different than other Oaks, it starts sending it's sprout down in the earth after the first soaking rain in fall. It grows all winter during our moderate winter and in spring pushes out above all others to grab all the sun it can, before other faster growing plants shoot up and block it. Each year it renews it's great spurt in the spring. It's miracles don't stop there. We have little or no rain for up to 6 months and no water table on the side of hills. Where there is a water table others compete better and grow faster. The Blue Oak has many features it has aquired to survive where others can't. First it's leaves have a waxy coating to help hold in moisture. Second, it starts dropping leaves to balance the amount of water it has, and third each cell is an island onto itself, they will wall up and hold the moisture it has when the tree gets stressed. Thus it sit's waiting for fall rains and then growth starts anew.
It's not just drought that kills plants in the Sierra. Fire is a natural enemy. A quick burning brush fire will only destory the leaves of the "blue" and help in killing all it's competitors. The Blue stores enough energy so that it can be burned 2 years in a row and still have enough energy to come back a third. Then it too will die.
A large Blue Oak can be over 400 years old and produce up to 180 pounds of acorns. The nut's are quicklly eaten by all. Even the local Natives ate them, although not as tasty as the "Black" (the coast Indians would only trade Abalone shell for "Black"). They would grind them in holes with rocks. I have maybe 20 or more grinding holes on my place. I have found that making bread with Blue Oak instead of Whole Wheat kept the bread fresh longer. I think it is the wax in it.
