In this Issue...

• Projects Report Meeting
• Upcoming Business
• Report of the Fall Field Day
• Gary Lincoff's Acorn Muffins
• SIG Project Highlights
• Seed Stratification This Fall
• Promotions Committee
• Bibliography of Nut Tree Literature

The Communications Committee is pleased to announce the Chapter's 1985 Projects ReportMeeting to be held on 27 Nov. 1985 at the Victoria Museum of Man on MacLeod St, ActivityRoom 50. Registration starts at 7:30 PM.

This is the first of the new annual Project Report Meetings, whose purpose is to discuss all theprojects being undertaken in the Chapter. This is the time to ask questions and to get going on theprojects that interest you. For more information, call Agnes MacIntosh, Ottawa 722-5338.

Upcoming Business

Part 2 of the nut tree bibliography will appear in the next issue's Technical Section. Also, therewill be the regular features such as the recipe, and the last meeting's report.

The next Executive meeting will be held Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 PM at the Chair's abode. Thedeadline for the next Nuttery (vol.4 no.6) is Saturday, 14 December, 1985.

Report of the Fall Field Day

The Fall Field Day was held at the Dominion Arboretum. Ten members turned out on a lovelySaturday to learn to recognize the various species of nut trees present at the arboretum. DickBell, Convenor of the Survey SIG, hosted the trip. Though there were not black walnut seeds left,the oaks produced well this year, especially the reds and English oaks. Some of this seed wasgathered. The Gingko has a bumper crop of seed, but it was not yet ripe. It might be worthchecking out now to see if there is still seed. Germinating Gingko is apparently not easy, but theeffort is worth it. The seed is edible, and you may have noticed that it has become a popular treefor city landscaping. Pat Doyle brought a diameter tape and a height meter which everyonedutifully tried. Both instruments could prove useful in future to the Survey SIG for theirInventree site surveys.

Peter Janas' nut tree site classification scheme was discussed. Everyone agreed that we need abrief manual on using the scheme to ensure that the classifications will be consistently assignedover the years. This is important if our Inventree data are to prove consistently useful in years tocome. The field day turned out well and everyone learned new things about nut trees. Thanks tothe Survey SIG for a grand day!

Gary Lincoff's Acorn Muffins

This recipe comes from Don Stalker (Ottawa 236-8163). The acorns, mixed types from varioustrees, must be shelled and leached of tannins by boiling in 10 changes of water for 15 minuteseach water, then coarsely ground in a meat grinder.

1 cup ground acorn meal1 cup wheat flour4 tsp baking powder½ tsp salt ¼ tsp sugar1 egg1 cup milk¼ cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 425°F. Sift together the dry ingredients. Mix together the egg, milk andmelted butter. Combine all ingredients and mix well until smooth. Spoon the batter into well-buttered muffin tins. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until the tops crack or the edges pull away from thetin. Serve hot or cold with butter or wild jam. Try different spices each time for a variety offlavours.

SIG Project Highlights

The Silviculture SIG is now contemplating maintenance standards for eh Baxter Nut Grove,which was beautifully groomed for the SONG AGM in July. Thequestion they face is what levelof grooming should be maintained. A second nut grove project has been started by IreneWoolford, Winchester, in a 5 acre plot belonging to the South Nation Conservation Authority.She is interested in hearing from members who want to participate in the development of thisnew grove. For more information on Silviculture projects, call Irmi Underwood, Convenor, atCarp 839-5563.

The Nut Use SIG is moving ahead quickly on two projects. First, the group has published abibliography of nut tree literature in the Technical Section of this Nuttery. This is only thebeginning. They now want more information, and skilled help to index this material for futureeditions of the bibliography. Their other project will be to compile, test and publish a nutterycookbook, to be sold at a modest price to help raise funds for the Chapter. Jean Giblin ispreparing the cookbook plan now - call her with your ideas at Ottawa 727-5781. For moreinformation on Nut Use projects, call Polly Sue Forrestall, Convenor, at Ottawa 233-5189.

The Survey SIG now have a draft scheme for classifying nut tree sites with respect to superiorseed collecting. This exciting document was prepared for the Chapter by Peter Janas, Head,National Tree Seed Bank, Petawawa National Forestry Institute, who is also a Chapter member.Inventree will benefit immensely from having this new classification scheme. The group nowneeds to draft a users' manual for applying the scheme to Inventree. For more information inSurvey projects, call Dick Bell, Convenor, at North Gower 489-2095.

The Horticulture SIG is repeating last year's fall stratification project at Baxter this year. GeorgeTruscott has donated about 500 lb of Black Walnuts for the project, burial slated for the 9thNovember. Also, Gordon MacArthur will soon be following up on last spring's massive seeddistribution, for germination and growth data. For more information on Horticulture projects, callAlec Jones at Ottawa 828-6459.

For general information on Chapter projects, call Vice-Chair Jim Bartley at Wakefield 4593597.

Seed Stratification This Fall

By the time you read this article, we will have stratified about 500 lb of Black Walnuts,compliments of George Truscott, at the Baxter Nut Grove, for distribution next spring. Also,Gordon MacArthur, at Clarence Creek 487-2201, is organising the collection of the data on lastyear's stratification project from nut seed recipients. He has prepared a questionnaire which willbe mailed out to seed recipients soon. I hope you will be able to attend the forthcoming ProjectReport Meeting to ask questions and to join in on the various interesting and important projectsthe Horticulture SIG has going.

Alec Jones, Convenor, Horticulture SIG, Ottawa 828-6459.(continued)

Promotions Committee

The Promotions Committee, with the Chapter Secretary as its chair, is responsible forrecruitment and membership services, and also for promoting the goals of SONG institutionally.There are many political, economic, social and environmental issues of interest to our Chapter,and this committee will help us understand them and express our point of view. We need toestablish contact with all levels of government to voice our concerns on pollution, acid rain, thelack of hardwood (nut tree) policy, etc. We should be supporting researchers in universities tolearn more about climate change, carbon dioxide, organic growing, the use of chemicals, etc. It istime for us to develop a program to deal with issues like these to complement and gain supportfor our growing technical efforts. For more information, and to put forward your ideas, call PaulBender, Secretary, Ottawa 224-1102.

Bibliography of Nut Tree Literature

This document originally appeared divided between this issue and the following one. It forms thebase of the current ECSONG bibliography .

Provided by ECSONG. Feel free to copy with a credit.