The Community Acorn Project
The Goldeneye Community Acorn project has been in the works ever since our Operations Manager, Bob Nye, read an article about the late Olympic gold medalist Jessie Owens approximately ten years ago. During the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, the Germans awarded young oak seedlings to each victor and his respective team as a message of hope and prosperity. The US came home with 24 oak trees that year, four of which had been earned by Owens for track and field events.
After learning that we have a pointer tree that was used by the native peoples, or Pomo, on The Confluence Estate ranch, Bob was inspired to launch a fundraising and educational project to benefit the community, and specifically The Cancer Resource Center of Mendocino County. This community education project's goal is to educate the young people of Anderson Valley about the Pomo natives and their close relationship with native plant species, specifically Black and Tan Oaks, while at the same time bringing local youth closer to a community support organization which supports persons with life threatening illness.
In our first year of this program, we hosted forty-eight third graders and a handful of brave parent chaperones from the third grade classes of Anderson Valley Elementary School, who spent the day learning about different types of native oaks and acorn species and their historical and present day significance to the area.
The day began with a beautiful and informative slideshow presentation by Sherrie Smith-Ferri, director of the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah, illustrating how the Pomo natives collected and used acorns as a food source.
Next, Ken Montgomery, local ecologist/horticulturist, owner of Anderson Valley Nursery and the director of Anderson Valley High School's horticulture program, led the children on a nature walk through the vineyards and up to the crest of the property, while teaching the children how to identify the various types of oaks and acorns which dot the landscape. Our walk culminated with Nye's rendition of the legend of the significance of the approximately three-hundred-fifty-year-old pointer oak that sits atop the hill we climbed, whose branches ancient peoples manipulated so that the tree could be used as a directional landmark.
Finally, with Ken's help, the children propagated acorns that we will grow to seedlings, with our intention being to mirror the Germans' idea as Goldeneye has agreed to donate the seedlings on the third grader's behalf to CRCMC to be gifted as a message of hope to members of the community that are diagnosed with cancer.
All in all, our first annual field trip and subsequent fundraiser winemaker dinner for the CRCMC was a complete success. Goldeneye hopes to continue this project on an annual basis, and branch out to other community elementary schools as the program develops. We currently have over 100 oak seedlings ready to plant and look forward to passing on these potted acorns to some of the victors that the Cancer Resource Center serves during a fundraising dinner planned for this July here at Goldeneye.
For more information on the Cancer Resource Center of Mendocino County and their wonderful support of our community, please visit their website at www.crcmendocino.org
