My readers know I am a gardener. It’s a love I inherited from my father, who each summer grew a garden full of vegetables, with varying degrees of success, to treat his family to fresh produce.

Fresh produce wasn’t something you could get in grocery stores in rural North Dakota in the 1950s and 1960s. But we had ’em, and my mother blanched and froze what we couldn’t eat right away for wintertime treats. Oh, my do I remember those frugal meals of “creamed peas on toast” she fed her family of 9 for supper on some winter Friday nights in our Catholic household. Baked her own bread, too. And “farm cream” from one of her Catholic Daughters lady friends.

I’ve had pretty good luck with my gardens in the 15 summers we’ve lived in Red Oak House, in the Highland Acres National Historic District in Bismarck. This fall, I did something new. One day in early September, Lillian brought me an acorn she found in our yard. A really nice acorn.

“Here,” she said. “Now you can grow an oak tree.”

Well, I thought, what the heck? Why not.

I asked Mr. Google how to grow an oak tree. And Lillian, who knows more than Google. She said to soak it in water for a day or two, and then just plant it and let it grow. So I soaked it.”

Here it is, soaked and sitting on the kitchen counter, “Ready to plant.”

Found a pot that looked big enough to grow an oak tree. Here we go!

Found the watering can and gave it a good dose.

Moved it over to the picnic table. Lillian made me a label.

And that’s where it sits as we move into the new year. We’ll see.

Wonder how long it will be before it looks like this, the North Dakota State Champion Red Oak Tree in our front yard. I’ll let you know when you can come by to see it.