Stumped by Nature

Welcome to this issue of Stumped by Nature, where we notice nature lurking just beyond our screens, curate a list of outside-y events in Austin, and build community with other folks in the thick of the startup ecosystem.

In this week’s issue:

Let’s dig in!

-Nicole

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NATURE SPOTLIGHT

Buckle up, y’all. Today we’re noticing galls.

You’ll find them under some oak trees. (Remember oak trees?)

Once you see galls, you can’t unsee galls.

Here’s the deal:

A gall forms when a wasp lays an egg on an oak tree and deposits a chemical that convinces the oak tree to CREATE A PROTECTIVE, NUTRIENT-APPROPRIATE WOMB FOR THE WASP LARVAE TO DEVELOP.

My jaw. The floor.

The gall-causer tricking the tree for free labor to emerging-wasp timeline is roughly TWO YEARS. (I’m actually yelling.)

An exit hole appears, and the fully formed gall wasp emerges. Gall wasps look a bit like a fruit fly, not the thing forming a nest in the eaves of your house.

Oak trees are apparently cool with this benign parasitic system. It’s symbiotic if you consider that the wasp gets to become a mature wasp, and the tree gets some temporary jewelry. #fashion

For the larger ecosystem, galls make up part of the diet of woodpeckers, nuthatches, squirrels, opossums, raccoons, and skunks. Some creatures peck out the larvae and some take down the gall whole. Despite the temptation of eating wasp larvae, humans should resist snacking on these—the tannic acid would give you a belly ache. (I don’t know this from personal experience, but going to trust the internet on this one.)

I 100% believe you can (and should) find a gall and pick it up and look at it with awe.

For additional reading about galls with much more precise scientific awareness, you’ve got several viable options.

Parenting Tip:

Triangulate how high your offspring can count and how many moments of relative peace you need. Encourage your offspring to collect that number of galls (with exit holes!).

Life Skills in the Apocalypse/ Homesteading Tip:

Make natural ink from collected galls, just like Pliny the Elder and Shakespeare

Step 1: Lug your mortar and pestle outside in case the galls your offspring collected are not as vacated as the exit hole might imply

Step 2: Pestle the hell out of the galls

Step 3: Combine pulverized galls with hot water, let soak overnight

Step 4: Spend the entire waiting time deep cleaning your mortar and pestle

Step 5: Strain the liquid. Add a nail to make chemistry happen for darker ink

Step 6: Set up your workspace with a found-feather quill and the paper you made from the pulp of your offsprings’ school worksheets, and you’ve effectively created a multi-day process out of what were readily available materials. Very hygge!

Step 7: Write something. Obviously.

ELECTION SEASON

🗳️ October 27: Austin Tree of the Year Awards 2025 are open. The Small Tree of the Year category seems like it will have a runaway favorite. Vote here!

🗳️November 4: General Elections (for humans). Early voting is actively underway! Preview your ballot at Vote411.

UPCOMING EVENTS

🗓️ October 24: Bird Walk on the Butler Trail

🗓️ October 25: Pumpkin Carving Party benefiting Austin Bat Refuge

🗓️ October 25: Doom Metal Goat Yoga at Jester King. Keep it weird. Keep it bendy.

🗓️ October 26: Native Prairies Association Texas Silent Auction (Side note: I LOVE silent auctions. Please tell me about the ones you know about.)

🗓️ October 26: Surrealist Safari at Laguna Gloria. Think sculptures + live music.

🗓️ October 30: Halloween Movie Nights at Meanwhile. Nightmare Before Christmas AND Coraline are teed up, plus pumpkin painting

LOCAL FARMERS’ MARKETS

👩‍🌾 Arboretum Food & Artisan Market Saturdays 11am-3pm

👩‍🌾 Barton Creek Farmers Market Saturdays 9am-1pm

👩‍🌾 Lakeline Farmers Market Saturdays 9am-1pm

👩‍🌾 SFC Farmers’ Market Downtown Saturdays 9am-1pm

👩‍🌾 SFC Farmers’ Market Sunset Valley Saturdays 9am-1pm

👩‍🌾 Texas Farmers’ Market at Bell Saturdays 9am-1pm

👩‍🌾 Texas Farmers’ Market at Mueller Sundays 10am-2pm

PUMPKIN-RELATED ADVENTURES

We’re surrounded by gourd options.

🎃 Indian Springs Ranch Southwest Austin

🎃 Pumpkin Nights East Austin

🎃 Sweet Berry Farm Northwest, in Marble Falls

🎃 Sweet Eats Fruit Farm Northeast, in Georgetown

🎃 Texas Pumpkin Fest Northwest, in Leander

HOMEWORK

Really. Galls. Find one.

Bonus points for baby galls.

Snap a photo and send it to me.

POP QUIZ

What is a corvid?

That’s all for this week! 

In the meantime, I hope your jaw drops so far in awe at nature that a mature gall wasp flies in.

-Nicole

OPTIONAL SIDE QUESTS

🪵 Feedback is my BFF. Email away with questions/comments/concerns/nature curiosities/existential pondering. 

🪵 Community is thrilling. Email away with events I should feature or partnerships/collabs we could consider. 

🪵 Donations are a thing. Any dollars from this edition of the newsletter will go toward deep cleaning my molcajete.

🪵 Is this newsletter not your vibe? Send it to your enemies to make them suffer too.