These necklaces are so pretty and giftable. This is a great project with help with a drill from an adult. There is a video at the site if you are a visual learner.
19th cent., [Five relics related to George Washington], Collection of J. S. Reigart
Relics include:
“Acorn made of a piece of Christ’s Church, Philadelphia 1695. Gen. Washington attended this Church”; “Acorn made of the Historic Oak, ‘The Washington Oak’ at Mount Vernon/under this tree Washington used to read”; a “Piece of the Original Stoop of the Home of Washington, Mount Vernon”; and “Natural Acorns from off the famous Washington Oak at Mt. Vernon…”
19th cent., [Five relics related to George Washington], Collection of J. S. Reigart
Relics include:
“Acorn made of a piece of Christ’s Church, Philadelphia 1695. Gen. Washington attended this Church”; “Acorn made of the Historic Oak, ‘The Washington Oak’ at Mount Vernon/under this tree Washington used to read”; a “Piece of the Original Stoop of the Home of Washington, Mount Vernon”; and “Natural Acorns from off the famous Washington Oak at Mt. Vernon…”
These necklaces are so pretty and giftable. This is a great project with help with a drill from an adult. There is a video at the site if you are a visual learner.
When Acorn Masts, Rodents, and Lyme Disease Collide
When Acorn Masts, Rodents, and Lyme Disease Collide
“‘Mast years’ is an old term used to describe years when beeches and oaks set seed. In these years of plenty, wild boar can triple their birth rate because they find enough to eat in the forestes over the winter… The year following a mast year, wild boar numbers usually crash because the beeches and oaks are taking a time-out and the forest floor is bare once again.” — The Hidden Life of Trees by…
To Fruit or Not to Fruit - The Story of Mast Seeding
To Fruit or Not to Fruit – The Story of Mast Seeding
Perennial plants that are able to reproduce multiple times during their lifetime don’t always yield the same amount of seeds each time they reproduce. For some of these plants, there is a stark difference between high-yield years and low-yield years, with low-yield years outnumbering the occasional high-yield years. In years when yields are high, fruit production can seem excessive. This…
acorns are a cute, perfectly-sized magick charm to carry in your pocket. they represent the energy of the beautiful oak tree, which has long-held associations with strength, endurance, courage, generosity and honesty. for this reason, it has “kingly” attributes; it’s said that king arthur’s round table was made from a cross-section of a big elder oak tree’s trunk.
each acorn on the oak tree is believed to have its very own faerie watching over it. keep this in mind before you pluck an acorn from its tree; when harvesting acorns, it’s best to forage for fallen ones so as not to bring about fae mischief.
☾ using acorns as charms
carry an acorn in your pocket for health, abundance, prosperity and luck.
plant an acorn in your garden under a full moon to cultivate happiness.
use an acorn at your altar to represent the earth element.
wear an acorn around your neck to bring beauty, youth, and protection.
place an acorn in your purse or wallet to attract financial security.
an acorn at your desk inspires patience and long-term success.
☾ a simple acorn spell for strength during hardships
light a red candle, which represents strength, survival and endurance. hold an acorn in your hands and look at the flame, meditating on the hardships you’re going through and your wishes to overcome them. remind yourself that you are strong and resilient. visualize the end to the situation. warm the acorn over the candleflame, kiss the acorn, and place it under your pillow.
☾ kitchen witchcraft: acorn maple shortbread cookies
these cookies are delicious and rustic, celebrating the oak and maple trees. the cookies have powerful spiritual healing properties. here is a recipe for how to make acorn flour, which involves a couple days of labor and requires a food processor. the end product, however, is a delicious dark gluten-free flour that has chestnut flavor notes. for the cookies (makes 12), you will need:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature (8 ounces)
½ cup sugar
¼ cup maple sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup acorn flour
1. Combine the butter, sugars and vanilla extract in a bowl and whisk together with a fork.
2. Mix the salt and flours together with a whisk in another bowl, then pour the mixture in with the butter/sugar. mix with a fork just enough to make a sticky dough with no butter chunks.
3. shape the dough into a large disk, wedge between parchment paper and freeze for at least two hours, so they maintain their structure in the oven.
4. preheat the oven to 350°F. flatten the dough disk to about ½ inch and use a cookie cutter to cut out the cookies.
5. place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 23-26 minutes (or until the edges are beginning to brown).
☾ an acorn-top faerie offering
to make an offering to nearby fae and good spirits, place a ring of acorn tops on a tree stump, and fill the acorn tops with wine. leave a pile of rose petals in the center of the ring.
They Symbolize:Good luck, potential, abundance, endurance, growth, and security.
Magickal uses: Can be placed on your altar for good luck. — You can wear an acorn necklace for good luck and a “youthful glow”.—If you carry an acorn with you, it will protect you from bad weather and illness.— Put an acorn on your windowsill to protect you and bring positive energy into your home.
Facts: When witchcraft was illegal, witches wore acorns as a necklace so they could identify each other as practitioners.—Only mature Oak trees can produce acorns. —They can be eaten and used in tonics, potions, and tea after a boiling process. Be very careful though.
This panel for The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire was a lot of fun to create. All about the oak trees in the Manchester Cedar Swamp, and some of the critters that enjoy them.
This is, of course, a RSS story for @brutal-nemesis’s Plant Day 2021.
And please don’t kill me, but I kinda feel like I bent the rules here. The assailant here is not a fungus or protist. It is a part of the plant kingdom, but not like that.Anyway, on to the story part of this.
Trigger Warnings – also tagged: choking, alcohol, knives, blood, surgery
WC: 897
———-
“911, what is your emergency?”
A panicked voice came from the other end of the phone. “My boyfriend is choking and we can’t get it out!”
“Okay. Where are you?”
“Middle of the quad at OakU.”
“Any landmarks nearby?” “Across the street from the ADG house.”
Victor entered the location into his computer and pulled up a map of the OakU campus. “Okay, help is on the way. My name is Victor. And you are?” “Raegan.” “Okay, Raegan. You said that your boyfriend is choking?”
“Yeah,” Raegan said, panic once again rising in her voice.
“And you tried the heimlich?” Victor asked.
“Yeah. It didn’t work. One of my friends tried that and they tried smacking his back. Nothing helped.”
“Okay. What is his name?”
“Hugo.”
“Raegan, put me on speaker.” Victor paused briefly as he waited for Raegan to oblige. “Okay, Hugo, if you can hear me, please give Raegan a thumbs up.”
Hugo barely moved. He was rocking back and forth, his arms slowly reaching at his neck, but his hands made no attempt to show Raegan a thumbs up. His olive skin slowly grew bluer.
On the other end of the phone, a message popped up on Victor’s computer. EMS was on the way, but Raegan and Hugo were not accessible by road. It would be at least 15 minutes until help could arrive.
Victor’s attention was pulled back to the call when Raegan began screaming.
“Victor, he’s not moving anymore! How much longer?”
“Your location is pretty far from any roads, so it’ll be 15-20 minutes. Can you try the heimlich again?” Victor pulled out his phone and texted Kai.
“I know you’re off, but I need help. College age male choking. Heimlich not helping. EMS 15-20 out. I am conferencing you in.”
Kai responded with a thumbs up and Victor entered his number into the console. “Raegan,” Victor said, “this is my friend Kai. He is a paramedic. He is going to help you.”
Kai cleared his throat into the phone. “Raegan, can you tell me exactly what happened?”
Raegan sighed as tears made their way from her eyes to her chin. “I was working on a project for my photography class. It was, uh, humans in nature. We were doing a shoot and Hugo decided he wanted a picture biting an acorn. I got a couple shots and then he tripped over a tree root. He must’ve swallowed the acorn and it got stuck because he can’t breathe and it’s not between his teeth anymore.”
Kai took a deep breath. “I am going to recommend something crazy, but it should save Hugo, alright? I think that you should attempt a field cricothyrotomy.”
“You want me to cut open my boyfriend’s neck?” “Raegan, it will save his life,” Victor said. “Now, before I ask you this, I want to remind you that these calls are recorded, but I do want to help.” He paused. “Does someone over the age of 21 in the ADG house have alcohol, a knife, and a straw?”
“Yeah,” Raegan responded, but it wasn’t entirely true. She always carried a pocket knife and metal straw, and she had filled her water bottle with vodka at a party the night before. Victor didn’t need to know where it came from.
“Raegan, I need you to sterilize everything. Dump the alcohol on your hands, his neck, the knife, and the straw,” Victor commanded.
Raegan carefully poured the alcohol out of her bottle, through the straw, and onto her hands, her knife, and Hugo’s neck. “Done,” she said, putting her phone on speaker and placing next to Hugo’s short, scruffy black hair.
Kai took a breath and began to instruct Raegan. “Raegan, you are going to find the cricothyroid membrane, it is–”
“In that indentation below the Adam’s Apple,” Raegan finished.
“Yes,” Kai said with a slight bit of surprise in his voice.
“You sound surprised,” Raegan responded. “I find that knowing human anatomy is incredibly important to my art.”
“Alright then,” Kai continued, “You are going to make a 1-inch long incision. You are going to drive your knife in until you feel a bit of a pop. That means you are in the trachea.”
Raegan squeezed her eyes shut before busting them open again. She grasped the handle of her pocket knife and slid the blade across her boyfriend’s olive-colored skin. Dark red blood oozed from the opening. At the center of the incision, Raegan pushed down on the knife until she felt something different than the feeling of slicing through fascia and muscle. She slid her finger into the cavity and there certainly was a hole in something. “Done,” she informed Kai and Victor as she pulled her finger out of Hugo’s neck.
“Slip the straw into the hole in the trachea and take a breath into it,” Kai instructed.
Raegan slid her metal straw into the hole that had just held her finger. She wrapped her lips around her purple silicone straw topper. She gently exhaled through the straw. Surprised, she pulled back when she saw Hugo’s chest rise in his green hoodie. “He is breathing!” she exclaimed.
“Good,” Victor said. “Paramedics are about 5 minutes out. I can stay with you until they get there, okay?” “Thank you,” Raegan replied softly. She buried her face into Hugo’s shoulder. Her tears joined the bloodstains on his hoodie.
![19th cent., [Five relics related to George Washington], Collection of J. S. Reigart Relics include:](https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8aolwbWtu1rstnezo1_1280.jpg "19th cent., [Five relics related to George Washington], Collection of J. S. Reigart Relics include:")
