ENFIELD — Jo Ann Langone collects acorns at her Enfield home last month to donate as feed to the Kilham Bear Center in Lyme.

Langone and her husband fill about one 5-gallon bucket per day from the oak trees in their yard, and estimate they’ve taken about 145 gallons to the center this year.

“In addition to doing it for the bears, I’m doing it to keep my driveway from crunching every time I drive over it.”

Jo Ann Langone removes stray acorn caps from her nut gatherer in Enfield, N.H., while collecting acorns to help feed orphaned bear cubs at the Kilham Bear Center in Lyme. Langone removes the caps and any cracked acorns. “We’ve had a lot of acorns before, but never like this,” she said. “It is nature’s way of saying, look out, winter’s coming.” (Valley News – James M. Patterson)

jpatterson@vnews.com | 603-727-3236