{is not tell how, is how. hold gel, see things gel makes. hold wood, see things wood makes. hold all things to make thing, see thing, make thing.}

"...Huh." She considers the apple tree, then decides that no, apples are important, then turns to the first non-fruit-bearing tree she sees, wraps a tentacle around the trunk and attempts to uproot it. 

The tree creaks and groans and falls apart into a shower of tiny little log-sections, each the same size as the ball of gel. There are also two tiny little... stylized carvings of acorns?

If she holds a tiny log at the same time as the ball of gel, she gets a bunch of clearer recipes where the full ingredients list is readable, including one where she can use {1 wood} and {1 gel} to make, presumably, a torch. (The name of the product is still blurred.)

...She...makes a torch?

Now she is holding a torch! A teeny tiny miniature torch, the same size as the miniature logs. Its teeny tiny miniature flame flickers merrily without giving off heat. The word {torch} is now unblurred in the recipe entry.

{can put torch on ground,} the forest spirit contributes.

And she can 'see', anywhere she looks, a ghostly preview of what putting the torch on the ground would result in—a stick about a foot long, standing straight upright, with a burning lump of something-or-other on top. It seems only able to stand in places precisely aligned with the invisible grid that dictates the placement of the trees: either at the center, edge, or corner of a grid square.

The previews can be activated in much the same way as the recipe.

...She...activates a preview?

And now there is a torch on the ground, exactly where she meant it to go!

"This is not how I'm used to things working." 

{is how these things work.}

"...Okay." 

She picks up an acorn. 

The acorn gives her no recipes, and a build-preview of a little sapling.

"If I--place an acorn as a sapling--will it grow into a tree?" 

{yes! not right away though.}

"How fast does it grow?" 

{usually a few days.}

"...It only takes a few days for a little sapling to grow into a tree?" 

{it is little and then little and then little and then little and then big!}

"After a few days, it turns into a tree all at once?"

{yes!}

...Where can she put trees, exactly? 

In the center of any unoccupied grid square in sight. There might be terrain limitations, but the only available terrain at the moment is grassy forest floor.

Can she put a tree on top of another tree?

That doesn't sound like an unoccupied grid square at all!

"If I pull up the apple tree, will that drop seeds too?" 

{tree gives seed but not always. sometimes one sometimes two sometimes three sometimes none. mostly two.}