Well, my grandmother used to talk about one of her childhood chores being to gather acorns to feed to the pigs. Yes, really! Seems like there should be something to do with a lovely large crop of acorns, but other than that I don't know. Maybe compost them?

Since I haven't been able to work in the yard I also have so many sprouts that have shot up as well.

one can grind them and make flour of sorts.

The acorns were heavy this year.

I crush as many as I can and throw them in the gardens for mulch. I will be out there pulling little trees in the spring.

Definitely a mast year in our area, too. Mower-mulched the leaves yesterday and felt like it was running over a bed of river stones. Read we should expect a bump up in critter populations. We already have enough squirrels to consume every pecan, fruit, and tomato - last time we had such a bump, they turned to chewing on houses and cars when the food supply returned to normal the following year :-(

We also compost any acorns collected when cleaning up, but run them through the power shredder to keep them from sprouting in the compost pile.

Those little trees have long roots and what a hassle to pull out of ground. I will be using a shovel to dig them up. I didn't plant the tree my husband did but he does not touch anything in the yard. Only plants that he likes is lavender and some kind of grass. I killed one of the grasses last year. Maybe time to do this next year.

Gretchen, it's easier after a rain with a pair of pliers. My hands are not that strong anymore and I have to use tools.

I hope you heal soon from your surgery so you can get back out there.

Oh! GOOD 2 know. I will collect them and find some one that has deer on their property. It should be not to hard I have many friends.

I don't know if all acorns are the same, but I do know there are acorn food recipes out there. You can make food from them, able to be consumed by people.

However, in my case, as I did not want the powdery yellow stuff in the spring and fallen acorns in the fall, I removed the 12-ft tall tree in my backyard. The first year when it made acorns was already a harbinger of what more was to come. It was a nice source of shade but I think I'm happier without it.

I'm glad to hear you can use it for deer food, though. I do honestly feel bad for all the acorns dropped at parking lots or near sidewalks. Wish there was a way to get them to be used, though I suppose plenty of squirrels will eat at them when I'm not noticing.