The Science behind the Stories - Tales of the Wondrous Acre Wood: October Chapters 5-8
Updated: Oct 3
One of the things that makes Tales of The Wondrous Acre Wood different from other children's stories is that everything Finn discovers and learns about is genuinely true and research-backed.
In this blog post, you'll find the science behind every discovery Finn makes across the four October chapters, so that when you read the stories together with your child, you can feel confident to continue to explore the themes and the learning in more depth.
Chapter 5 - The Last Harvest
The science of apples, seeds and hidden stars
Why October is apple month:
The apple harvest peaks in late September, early October for a reason rooted in the tree's own biology. All summer the tree has been photosynthesising - which means converting sunlight into sugars and storing them in the developing fruit. As the days shorten after the autumn equinox, the tree begins producing a hormone called ethylene which triggers the ripening process. The fruit softens, the sugars concentrate and the skin's colour deepens. The deep, red apples that Bramble describes as 'having had the whole summer to become their wonderful selves' is exactly right - they really have been slowly doing so since June.
Windfalls happen because the same ethylene signal that triggers ripening also weakens the connection between the fruit and the branch - a process called abscission. Strong winds means that the apple lets go from the tree a little early, but later on, when apples naturally start to fall themselves, it's because the tree lets go deliberately. It is ready.
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