The incredible, edible acorn

Yes! Acorns are edible, not just for animals but for humans as well! To learn more about it we joined the ranger's of Vasona county park.

We all know that the acorn is a seed of Oak tree and near these trees we see squirrels scampering about and collecting these nuts. There are other animals like deer and birds that eat this seed. We learnt that an acorn woodpecker loves to eat acorns and drills holes in to dead tree trunks to stick the acorns in it. When the insects find their way in to these acorns, he devours the insects and acorns. A blue jay or scrub jay bird is an acorn planter and we were amazed to know that it plants about 7000 acorns in to the ground in an year.

The Ohlone Indians were the main consumer's of this nut and knew how to process them. During summer they use to collect these nuts and store in their granary to dry it up. In winter when they were out of other protein foods that they had stored, they would live on these nuts.

To consume these nuts, you have to dry them and then crack them open. Inside is a seed that looks like a big peanut. It is crushed and the husk is removed. It is then ground to a powder, the Indian had a huge stone called bed rock on which they would grind these nuts. we can do it with a mortar and pestel or a sturdy grinder. The seeds have a bitter taste due to the tannin acid in them. It needs to be removed before we humans can consume it. The process to remove the tannin acid is called leaching, where the acorn meal is tied in a cloth and water is run over it.
The ranger had done all the above steps to make the acorn meal (he used the acorns from Valley oak tree) and used it to make pancakes. Lastly we got to enjoy the pancakes with wild mint jelly! mmmm!
Acorn being a seed has all the nuritional values like protein, fiber and minerals. Wonder why this seed is not as much consumed by humans? Maybe we want to spare some food for the wild life!

Kids and Chrysalises at Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center

After some break in our activities for about 2-3 weeks, this weekend we were eager to go out for some program. We decided to visit the Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center in Hayward. They host weekend science programs for kids and adults. This Sunday they had the program Kids and Chyrsalises which was for all age groups.

While waiting for the class to start we explored the exhibits: the fish tanks, the western fence lizard, a microscope, salt block and other kids activities.



The instructor started with showing us Chrysalises of the Anise Swallowtail butterfly, one was still intact while the other was a remain of a caterpillar which had already transformed to butterfly.

We came to know that the Chrysalis is formed from the skin of the caterpillar. The caterpillar sheds its skin as it grows and the last time that it does so, underneath is the chrysalis.The Anise Swallowtail can be in the chrysalis form for various periods, depending on the weather and part of the world. Usually in the cold regions like Canada, it will hibernate throughout the fall and winter and only come out in Spring. In warmer regions it can come out in 2 - 4 weeks.



The butterfly stage is also small for these creatures and they live for 3 - 6 weeks when they lay eggs on fennel plant. The butterfly is called as Anise Swallowtail as the caterpillar grows and eats fennel plants and the butterfly has tail which looks like a Swallows wings when it is in flight.

A fennel plant outside the Hayward shoreline Interpretive Center exhibited the caterpillars at various stages. The just hatched ones are like tiny black dots, as they grow their appearance changes. These have 6 legs( as butterflies are insects) and many pro-legs that help the caterpillar to stick on to things(shown in the picture above). When upset the caterpillar protrudes its horn which emits bad smell that keeps the predators away.

Back in the classroom the kids made a craft butterfly to carry home.

Overfelt Garden

This Sunday we wanted to go to a nearby park. While looking up on internet for a San Jose Regional Parks, I came across Overfelt Gardens in San Jose. I generally look for a park which is near a creek or has a pond, so the kids can see the water fowls and from the description that I read, Overfelt Garden was perfect!

The garden has paved trails and 3 percolation ponds or underwater refill ponds. These ponds are fed by water from the creek. The water seeps through the mud and rocks underneath which act as an acquifer to purify the water. This underground clean water is then pumped to neigboring areas. The creek which feeds these ponds probably has water when there is rain. While we were there the creek was all dry and the ponds had receded. The percolations ponds serve as habitats to turtles (you can see a lot of them either on the shore or poking their heads out of the water), herons, egrets, pekin ducks, mallards and other ducks, canada goose, humming birds etc.



The park has a Chinese garden, wildlife sactuary and picnic area. The Chinese garden has pavilions where you can rest and enjoy the cool breeze and surroundings. There are statues of Confucius - ancient philisopher and Chiang Kai-shek - The first president of Republic of China. The trail is leveled and hence very easy. We spent around 1-1.5 hrs in the park hiking.