Found a snack in a very unexpected place... my old family cemetery
Today, I went back to tend the old cemetery.... where a farming community used to exist... now "Gone with the wind". Well, it was a long drive through back roads and I got REALLY hungry. So, there I was cleaning up around the old tombstones, when I noticed the 250 year old, or so oak tree had covered the ground in small acorns. It was a "live oak", and I was very hesitant because small acorns are usually very tannic... but, I finally broke down. I cracked the shell between my teeth and crunched in tot he nut... expecting the unripe persimmon-like astringent pucker... But, to my surprise, there was just a hint of tannin and a nice nutty sweetness. So, I snacked on acorns as I mentally talked to my great, great, etc grandfathers and grandmothers. It was a beautiful fall day - warm sun, cool breeze. My dog, Buddy ran around and found all sorts of adventures to sniff out. A few big crows perched on the limbs and cackled at me. Very quiet otherwise. The turtles were sunning on logs in the swamps and big, solitary blue herons were hunting frogs in the ditches. I thought about harvesting some goldenrod and dock, but the cotton fields looked pretty worn out, so I figured there was likely a lot of chemical run off. Very peaceful, but a little melancholy.... quiet.
Comments
-
@judsoncarroll4 That sounds like a lovely day. I love old cemeteries.
-
@judsoncarroll4 this sounds like a perfect day! Thank you for caring for your ancestors and their final resting place. Is this your family’s cemetery or do other families come tend to their relatives graves? It sounds like it may be all but abandoned from your description but I would like to know what types of grasses or ground covers are there? Where is it (not exact location, just state/county for reference)??
I have two old plum trees on my cemetery that I have to race to get when they are ripe because a local man comes and gets them all over a weekend! Lol we also have enough blackberries to make a dozen pints blackberry jam every year. I’m always reminding the groundskeeper to NOT cut the ones growing near the canyon. Lol
I manage a non profit pioneer cemetery off the coast of Oregon and as the finances dwindle and there are less plots available to keep growing; I’m looking for how to keep the grounds looking cared for without much money (for a landscaper and equipment) in the future. Some cemeteries have a mix of ground covers or wild flowers that only get cut back a couple times a year.
@LaurieLovesLearning I love old cemeteries too! My deep passion for them lead me to my most recent career shift into cemetery management! It’s been the best fit for me yet💕😊💕
-
That is great, @herbantherapy - taking care of graveyards and cemeteries is very important. I was fortunate that the little school I went to in SC took us out on field trips to clean up old Revolutionary War and Civil War cemeteries. That was before became Catholic (caring for graves is considered a Catholic duty and form of penance), and they taught me that ethic of respect for the dead that I likely would not have learned otherwise. These days, we are having a lot of trouble with vandals. At the oldest of my family cemeteries in the county, as best we can tell, the tombstones were smashed with sledge hammers and thrown into the lake. The grave of my namesake, who served in the Revolution and the War of 1812 is simply lost. The courthouse was burned twice, so the records are gone, too.
The soil in the area is amazingly rich. It is mostly drained swampland. The surface is a light sand that turns white when exposed to sun - looks like it couldn't grow anything. But, underneath is dark, black and loose as far down as you can dig. My family farmed that area since the late 1600s - several communities bear my family names. Before modern mono-crop and hog farming, it was the most idealic, abundantly fertile place imaginable... big, wide river full of fish, that used to be major transport, dense woods full of deer and turkeys. Now, it is all trailer parks, housing projects and tiendas and meth labs. The ground cover is just native grass and weeds, some sheep sorrel and cats ear, but the big oaks shade it out from becoming very vigorous.
-
Me too! I love to go especially in the fall when the leaves have changed and the air is crisp. I love to photograph the stones. I wanted to write a book about it but the legalities made it very difficult.
-
Such a wonderful day.
-
@karenjanicki I have a book somewhere about headstones & their stories. It has been done. I would encourage you to keep pursuing this in some way.
I think it would be great to honor those lives...to put their stories into print, especially if you could contact living relatives that could give permission & so on.
-
Yeah that was what I was hoping for! I take pictures so I thought I could show photos of unique, beautiful or touching monuments. Maybe have a special story or excerpt from the life or lives of those on the stones. Include some poetry perhaps. I just didn't know where to start. I contacted a local cemetary director and he said I couldn't publish pictures of the stones without written consent of family since its considered private property. I had no idea where to even begin. Others simply ignored my requests so sadly I gave up :(.
-
@judsoncarroll4 your description is breathtaking! I am so sorry your family has experienced such terrible vandalism 😢
My grade school and High School participated in Cemetery clean up too, I think this an important public service for children to experience.
-
The first wild strawberries my youngest son ever tasted were growing in the cemetery adjacent to my parents property in Maine. Tiny red jewels of pure sweetness. He was 10 at the time and proceeded to tell me how much better wild berries were than store bought. 😃
As for the acorns, I'm guessing it was some variety of white oak, because red oak acorns are bitter with lots of tannin taste.
-
This Week's Leaders
Categories
- All Categories
- 34 Our Front Porch Welcome! (Please Read Before Posting)
- 56 Introductions & Region-Specific Discussions
- 341 Educational Opportunities & Resources
- 452 Current Events & Breaking News
- 47 Emergency/Disaster Preparedness & Resiliency
- 1.3K Our Garden: Growing Food
- 1.7K Our Apothecary: Natural & Home Medicine
- 508 The Back 40: Animal Husbandry & Harvesting
- 38 The Bush: Wild Game and Survival
- 517 Our Kitchen Table: Food Prep
- 391 The Homestead: DIY
- 1.2K Personal Journals
- 103 The General Store: Sell, Buy, & Barter