Golden grass in September

Beckett Gladney

California Indian summer; the grass has all turned gold and dry, but the oaks stay green. I read somewhere that the vast majority of the oaks that form California's oak woodlands were originally planted and then harvested by the local Indian tribes. They'd harvest acorns, keep a good portion for food purposes, and plant a portion of the harvest around the area in order to keep the acorn harvest in the area sustainable, but always with the clear purpose of keeping in harmony with the greater nature of the land. So most of the oak woodland areas that are left are either ancient matriarch trees planted by the native women who did the harvesting and cultivating, or descendants from those trees. I almost always think of those women when I hike among the oak trees.

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