Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
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Emory oaks at dawn, Site 12, City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM, March 14, 2009
Emory oak
Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the Emory oak:
Emory oak (Quercus emoryi) is a species of oak common in Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas (Big Bend National Park), USA, and northern Mexico south to Durango and San Luis PotosÃ. It typically grows in dry hills at moderate altitudes.
It is a live oak in the red oak group, retaining its leaves through the winter until the new leaves are produced in spring, and is a large shrub or small tree from 5-17 m tall. The leaves are 3-6 cm long, entire or wavy-toothed, leathery, dark green above, paler below. The acorns are 1.5-2 cm long, blackish-brown, and mature in 6-8 months from pollination; the kernel is sweet, and is an important food for many mammals and birds.
The tree is named after the United States army surveyor, Lieutenant William Hemsley Emory, who surveyed the area of west Texas where it was discovered in 1846.
Night camp
Site 12 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Verizon cell phone service - fairly good signal - best on west side of the park
- Verizon EVDO service - faster than many places I've camped
- Go to City of Rocks State Park website
- Locate City of Rocks State Park on my Night Camps map
- Check the weather here
Sweet, Rich Hickory Milk
Hickory was another favorite. Rambling through the Southeast in the 1770s, the naturalist William Bartram observed Creek families storing a hundred bushels of hickory nuts at a time. "They pound them to pieces, and then cast them into boiling water, which, after passing through fine strainers, preserves the most oily part of the liquid" to make a thick milk, "as sweet as fresh cream, an ingredient in most of their cookery, especially hominy and corncakes." Years ago a friend and I were served hickory milk in rural Georgia by an eccentric backwoods artist named St. EOM who claimed Creek descent. Despite the unsanitary presentation, the milk was ambrosial - fragrantly nutty, delightfully heavy on the tongue, unlike anything I had encountered before.