Pine Cones

I love trees. When the words "tree hugger" come up, that would be me! I actually wouldn't mind hugging a tree. Think about how much trees do for us. Here are a few of the many things trees do for us:
1. They take the sun's energy and convert it to oxygen for us to breathe.
2. Some give us fruit and nuts/seeds.
3. They provide shade on a hot summer day.
4. They give us wood for heating our homes and for making furniture and paper.
(Read "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. It will give you a glimpse of how much trees give us!)

Yes, I would hug a tree any day!

When looking at the many different trees in our yard and our neighbors' yards, I started thinking about the pine tree that my neighbors have that happens to be right near our yard. This tree has provided my kids with pine cones to enjoy while playing outside for quite a few years now (Thanks to J&C!). We have taken some of the cones and put peanut butter on them and rolled them in birdseed and hung them from one of our own trees. The birds LOVED us! (So did the squirrels!) The kids collect them and play with them, so they are all over our yard or porch. They can't get enough of them!

All these pine cones got me thinking, "why do pine cones grow?" I kind of figured that God didn't just place those cones there for our decorating purposes. So off to the internet I went to investigate. What I found out is that pine cones hold the seeds to make more pine trees. One of the best and easiest sites I found to describe and educate on pine cones was eHow.com. They explain that pine trees are conifers (a tree or bush that stays green all year and produces cones). The pine cone serves as a protective "house" for the seed of the pine tree. Each year, most pine trees have both male and female pine cones. The male pine cones tend to form near the tips of the branches and are small. In the spring, the male cone lets go of its pollen. The pollen flies around the tree in the wind and when it lands on the female cone, it fertilizes it. Eventually, the female cone, which starts out small, will grow to almost twice that size. It will open up as it changes to brown from its original color of green. Some pine cones can take up to three years to reach this point! When the pine cone opens up, the seed is released onto the ground where leaves and dirt may cover it. This gives the seed a chance to grow into another pine tree!

Both animals and people have used the pine seeds as food. Pine seeds (nuts) are sold in stores for people to use in salads, soups and other dishes. Some animals take the pine cones to get the seeds out to eat over the winter.

We found a few pine cones outside yesterday, but they weren't open. They had fallen off the tree, but were still closed. I found out that when the cones are wet or damp (which would be the case after this past weekend's rain) they stay shut. You can gather these closed pine cones, and put them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or foil and put them in the oven on low-heat (200 degrees) to dry them out. Once they dry out, they will open up. If you do put them in the oven, you have to watch them so that they won't burn. It can take anywhere from 20-30 minutes for this to work. Ours started to open up after just sitting in the house overnight.

So I guess pine cones also serve a few different purposes, like trees themselves do!
1. Pine cones provide the seeds to create new pine trees.
2. The seeds pine cones produce can provide food for people and animals.
3. Pine cones can be used as decorations! (see the next blog for a fun fall craft)

I was pretty impressed by what I found out about pine cones. It gives me another reason to love them! Now I think I will go outside and hug my trees.

Cheryl