After the big storm, we had three different tree services come in and give us bids. The verdicts of the first two were identical: chop and grind. The third service saw more hope. Repeated trimmings and fertilization might pull the trees through.
I was game, but The Farmer's pragmatism won. There really wasn't much left of the front tree, and the best part of the back tree was intertwined with the power lines. After trimming away the broken bits and trimming away from the power lines, there would be very little left.
So chop and grind it was.
If it weren't enough to lose three perfectly healthy, very old trees (and one hollow one), we suffered more damage as they came down. The healthy ash tree at the edge of the driveway was a casualty of this tree's fall. And our farm sign was slightly damaged in the process as well. The tree service guys took out both the broken and another diseased ash tree, for free. Our sign is still maimed.
Slowly, the yard is being cleaned up. The wrestling team from a nearby high school came again Saturday morning and cut up most of the trunks and limbs into burnable sized chunks to be split later for firewood. Two of the straightest trunks will be milled for maple boards.
It's hard to imagine that the trees in front of this little house (which has had many additions over the years) are the same trees that just came down. We believe this picture is from 1946, and the trees look to be well-established already.
We will miss the trees giving us shade in the heat of summer. But we have plans to replace them as soon as we can save up a little money for new ones.
It's okay to grieve them - they were "family" in a sense too, part of the identity of your farm and family. I hope you can plant new, young, hopeful trees soon.
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