The Family of the Tree - by Wendy

The Werewolves look terrific, as trees age they acquire shapes that prompt people with imagination to recognize many mythical and scary creatures, werewolves, maybe even dragons. The magic of trees contribute to many myths with the rustling of their leaves; their dark shadows at night and the caressing cool of their shade in the summer, not all myths are scary. Throughout time heavily timbered forests have been places of the genesis of many a mythical tale.

Some werewolves may be lying low around Wallace even today; after all it used to be a heavily timbered area, before being cleared for agricultural use in early European settlement. I understand the area around the walnut orchard was first planted to cherry orchards but a pest called the cherry slug, perhaps a small dragon, ruined the orchards many years ago. The cherry slugs still hang around and share the cherries with various local parrots. To my knowledge, although there were some Welsh people, there have been no reported dragons.

Walnut trees have been historically recorded as growing in a range of climatic zones over a number of continents and cultures, and like dogs and cats have long been friends of humans. Walnut trees contribute to human wellbeing in a number of ways, by providing a healthy food, and along with all trees, they to keep the air clean. Walnut trees live for hundreds of years producing nuts, oil and from the shell abrasives or mulch material, the dried husk can be used to make a permanent dye that does not need a fixative. Also, the longer the trees live the more valuable their timber becomes, which you may think creates a dilemma but given their great contribution and beauty its better to leave them to their natural time.

While walnut trees may look as though they are just standing around with nothing much to do while nuts grow on them and they clean up the air; they are in fact very busy trees. They have two growing periods a year, one in the spring, and one in February. The spring growing period could be the busiest time as they are growing new shoots to become branches with lovely new season leaves, they also grow very tiny flowers to catch the pollen from growing small catkin buds formed on the branches by the end of winter. In early spring after the wind borne pollen from the grown catkins fertilizes the flowers, nuts start to form covered with their dark green husk. Into the summer months the trees feed the nuts while the white moist kernel grows filling the then soft shell. The nuts grow larger, with the kernel filling and expanding the shell, until they are fully grown and the tree does not feed them any longer. The nuts then start to dry out to become a crunchy nut with a hard shell; the husk also dries out and peels back from the shell to help it dry in the heat and summer wind. Harvest time comes after the dried nuts start to fall, some fall a bit before the leaves, although on some trees nuts and leaves fall at much the same time.

In about February, when the nuts no longer needed feeding because they had finished growing even though they are still on the trees drying out, the trees start their second growth period. Again new branches and leaves grow to help support and feed the following years crop. Then by late autumn after the second growth has finished all the leaves turn yellow and brown as the trees take food back form their leaves to store in their roots ready to feed their spring growth and the start of next years crop. After harvest the trees are ready for winter with their only jobs being to rest and encourage the slow, almost imperceptible, catkin growth so they will be again ready to produce pollen by the spring.

So you see there is a lot happening in a walnut grove. All sorts of creatures appreciate the trees and while I know foxes, possums and a range of birds like to eat nuts, doubtless werewolves would love them also but they would have to work much harder to be scary if they lived on nuts that have just fallen to the ground for them. One does not have to be very scary to pick up nice sweet nuts for food. Other trees also have wonderful and busy lives; maybe they will also be creating places for werewolves, perhaps even dragons, to hide until they jump out and frighten us all.