What Can You Do with Acorns?

Last month I made a plea for acorns and you did not let me down. I have this funny fascination with them, probably because we don't have oak trees up here, and the first time I ever saw an acorn was when I was away at college in the Lower 48.

Not that I'm going to make this a post about my nostalgia for the first time I saw an acorn (It's My Life had her own acorn experience but it wasn't exactly something to be nostalgic about) but I'll just say that it was really cute--the acorn that is.

Ever since then I've thought they were fun and when I asked you to send me some I was thrilled to have many kind people volunteering to ship me all the acorns I could handle. Though I have to say . . . a funny thing happened.

I got three boxes of acorns but when one of the boxes came I opened it but didn't have time to deal with it so I set it on my bedroom shelf for later. About three o'clock in the morning I woke up to hear a funny sound. Kind of a faint, uncertain crunching or rustling sound and I lay in my bed, confused and sleepy and straining to hear what it was.

Suddenly it dawned on me that it was coming from the box of acorns and I thought, "Oh great, there must be a bug in the box or something." I got up and put the closed box in the bathroom on the counter to deal with in the morning before going back to bed.

The next morning I went into the bathroom and there, to my horror, was a Poltergeist moment right there next to the toothpaste. The box (still closed) was on the counter and all around it were little white maggots, wriggling away from the box in an emotional burst for freedom.

Nice.

I cleaned them up--their little prison break didn't last too long and ended with a flush--but even once the box was gone I kept finding fat little bodies in the corners of the bathroom into the afternoon. It would be the one room that I had actually scrubbed top to bottom and was the only clean spot in the house.

Apparently the bottom layer of acorns were a tasty treat for the little guys and they had showed their enthusiasm for the meal by multiplying all over in the box. (But don't worry it wasn't the box that you sent).

Anyway, it kind of cracked me up afterwards. Mice, flies, now maggots--all we need is an outbreak of bubonic plague or anthrax to get the CDC's attention. Just quarantine us. Please.

So what did I do with the acorns? As you can see from the pictures above I made some of them into a beautiful little fall wreath. The acorns are tiny and the wreath is about eight inches across but I've got three wreaths that I'm going to line up one on top of the other with wide dark red grosgrain ribbon, tied with a bow on the top. A beautiful wall decoration perfect for the holidays.

I started with a green floral foam wreath and hot glued the little guys, top to end, all going the same direction for one lap then worked my way out from there.

Interesting to see the variety in something as simple as an acorn. Small or long, black, brown or green they're all slightly different--I heard some can get as big as golf balls! Maybe next year I'll have to see if I can dig up some like that for curiosity sake. But no maggots--unless I wanted to use them to decorate for Halloween.

Check back later this week when I go crazy with acorn crafts. You'll have enough ideas to keep you busy all winter.

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This post is gratefully dedicated to Jen's Jenuine Life (she has printable chore charts for kids), My New Thing and Countess Laurie. Without whom no acorn post would have occurred, thanks!

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Technorati tags: crafts, acorns, Thanksgiving