Why Windy Acorn?

People often ask how we chose the name Windy Acorn Farm.

The answer isn’t a slogan—it’s a story woven into the land itself. If you walk even a few minutes on our slopes in Woodbury, Vermont, you’ll start to see it. The wind is almost always moving across the ridge, and under your feet you’ll find the quiet, persistent work of the northern red oak.

This blog is the story of how two forces—wind and oak—shaped our farm’s name, our mission, and our hopes for the future.

The Oaks That Shape Our Land

When you visit, you can’t miss the northern red oaks (Quercus rubra) planted decades ago by the Ahrens family. They flank the creek, mark the edges of our alley-cropping plantings, and stand between the Christmas tree coppice stands and the future nuts-and-fruits we’re nurturing into the landscape.

Red oak is one of the most northern members of the oak family—and as Vermont warms, it’s likely to become even more at home here. We’re also planting other oak species that, in time, will be part of a more climate-resilient forest ecosystem.

Each spring, the evidence is everywhere: acorns tucked into the soil by blue jays and gray squirrels, tiny oak seedlings popping up in surprising places. It’s the beginning of something long-term and hopeful—a future forest already taking root

Oaks aren’t just trees on this farm. They’re a foundation.

Why Oaks Matter for Our Mission

Oaks are extraordinary givers. Their acorns feed blue jays, turkeys, chipmunks, deer, and even the occasional bear who wanders through. Red oaks alone support more than a thousand insect species. In a perennial farm system, biodiversity isn’t a side benefit—it’s the whole point.
More life here means less pressure on our crop trees and a healthier, more balanced ecosystem.

In our work to farm with the ecosystem instead of against it and in preparation for a warming climate, the oak fits beautifully. It feeds wildlife, builds soil, supports insects, and still leaves enough abundance for us to gather, taste, and learn from.

Yes, we do harvest a small share of the acorns—but the wildlife always gets the first pick. Most nuts are collected early by squirrels and jays, long before they hit the ground. Still, every year we discover plenty of new seedlings. 

Some years we even have seedlings for sale—just ask if you’re dreaming of planting your own tiny forest.

A Scandinavian Thread Woven In

For me, the oak carries a second story too.

I grew up in Denmark, where only 7% of the country is forested today, but where the original forest—the one that once covered the entire landscape—was dominated by oaks. On small islands off the Danish coast, you can still find remnants of that old forest. Many Danish children have climbed an ancient oak; I was one of them.

For my ancestors, the Vikings, the oak was essential for food, shipbuilding, strength and myth

In Norse cosmology, the great tree Yggdrasil (sometimes interpreted as an ash, sometimes as an oak) held together the worlds—symbolizing new beginnings, wisdom, and resilience. Those are qualities we hope to echo here as we build a more perennial, soil-centered, ecologically generous kind of agriculture.

Even the word “acorn” holds history. In Denmark they are called agern, and squirrels are egern. Seems fitting that the creatures who plant half our future forest share almost the same name as the nuts they live on.

Tree Crops & a More Permanent Agriculture

Humans have eaten acorns for thousands of years. Some Indigenous cultures prefer white oak acorns for their lower tannins, but even red oaks can be transformed into delicious food—once the tannins are leached out with water.

Much of our inspiration for Windy Acorn Farm comes from J. Russell Smith’s visionary 1950 book Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture. His argument was simple and brilliant:

”Trees can feed us while restoring the land.”

Oaks, chestnuts, mulberries, persimmons, hazelnuts, hickories, walnuts—they can all be part of a more resilient, perennial food system. Many of these species already grow on our farm; the rest are being planted now. Vermont loves to talk about local food—but a truly local diet in a forested state like ours depends on perennial crops rooted in long-lived trees.

And yes, one day you’ll see acorn flour baked into Scandinavian treats from our harvest. I promise.

But Why Windy?

Come stand on our ridge and you’ll know instantly.

Wind sweeps across Woodbury Mountain almost daily—sometimes gently, sometimes not. For nut trees, this is a blessing: wind pollination is how many of them reproduce, long before the insects wake up in spring. Good airflow also means cleaner foliage and fewer fungal issues.

But wind is more than a weather pattern here. It brings movement, exchange, and new ideas. It reminds us that farming is not a closed loop—we are shaped by our neighbors, our community, our land, and the seasons that shift around us. As we grow, we hope the farm becomes a place where that flow continues: knowledge, culture, food, connection.

The Heart of the Name

Together - wind and acorn - capture what we’re building:
a perennial, resilient, ecologically rooted farm where heritage, landscape, and future all meet.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being part of the story as it grows.

Kærlig hilsen,

Charlotte