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Eats Wild Episode 7: Acorns are not just for squirrels

Mel Gillman holding rainbow umbrelling smiling at camera next to oak tree
Kayte Young/WFIU
Mel Gillman took Kayte on a walk through the topiary park outside of the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Columbus, OH. The park features a variety of oak trees and has been a favorite spot for Mel to harvest acorns.

 ”Acorns are, I mean, they're everywhere. They are incredibly abundant and they've been a really important food source for humans in essentially every region of the planet that had oak trees–which is almost every temperate zone on the entire globe. But we don't do much of acorn eating anymore as people and in communities in most places.”

Graphic Novelist Mel Gilman made an instructional zine about eating acorns, and this week on Earth Eats Eats Wild, they talk with us about this abundant food source, and why comics can be a great medium for learning about foraging.

And, we process some acorns of our own into flour for baking projects.

An open booklet with a spread of comic-style drawings in black and white about foraging for acorns.
Kayte Young/WFIU
Mel Gillman has several foraging zines,including one about acorns and one about wild fruits in the midwest.