Read that short book, and it will forever change the way you look at trees; it's one of the most interesting books I've ever read.
I checked out the book - Amazon allows a few pages to be read - looks good. Here's some other information you might enjoy.
Uses for the Brown Acorn Water Save the brown water from the first boiling (discussed above). The brown water should be stored in the refrigerator. With the passage of time a mold will form on top of the water and you will need to boil the water again to kill the mold. Then refrigerate the water again until needed. The brown water may be used in any of the following ways:
Laundry Detergent: Two cups of the brown water can be used as laundry detergent for one load of clothes. Your clothes will smell very good but lighter colors (and whites) will take on a tan tint.
Traditional Herbal Home Remedies: The brown water has both antiseptic and antiviral properties.
1. It can be used to wash the skin to ease the discomfort of skin rashes, burns, and small cuts.
2. It can be used externally to help treat hemorrhoids.
3. Pour some of the water into ice cube trays and freeze it. Then rub it on poison ivy blisters. It soothes and heals the blisters and helps reduce the itching. It is very effective on about 95% of the people who try it and the poison ivy is cured in three days. The cold ice helps to soothe the inflamed tissues.
Hide Tanning: The brown water can be used in the process of animal hide tanning. Just soak the clean, scraped animal hides in the water. The reason the bitter ingredient in acorns is called "tannic acid" is because it was originally used to tan animal hides.
www.grandpappy.info/racorns.htm
I guess I am learning to have an affinity for Oaks too : ) I will check out the book.
I have become aware of a cycle of bugs and how they interact with the trees. Along with the wasps are black beetles that will try to snatch and eat the inch worms while they are eating the leaves. The inch worms protect themselves by falling on a silken line where the beetles can’t follow, but the dangling worms are easy prey for the wasps. These cycles play out over spans of years with different bugs taking precedence.
Then there are the other plants, underbrush like choke cherries that leaf out much earlier in the year, risking freezes and snow loads to capture the sunlight and moisture before the Oaks leaf out blocking the sun. It seems that each year I notice something new and amazing. Plants seem to live in perpetual warfare.