Skip to main content

Not-So-Shady Side Farm

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. 

Comments

  1. 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.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bloggy Giveaway--Now Closed

**This bloggy giveaway is now closed** Thanks to all who participated and gave such great comments. Janette is the winner of the $15 gift certificate to our etsy store . I'm participating in the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival . Click the link to go to the carnival where you can enter to win literally hundreds of things. The good news is that even if you have no time to play on the computer trying to win hundreds of things, you can still enter to win one thing right here. This week, I will be giving away a $15 gift certificate to be used toward the purchase of an item in my etsy shop . This contest is open to residents of the United States or Canada only. The winner will receive free shipping on whatever item they choose. Items in my etsy shop include handwoven rugs, wool yarns and roving from our farm, and the ever-popular cotton dishcloth! To be entered in this wonderful drawing, you must go to the etsy shop and look around a bit. Then come back here and type a comment that

Haying 101

A few posts back, "deep end of the loom" (love that name!) asked me to tell a bit more about the haying process. If you want my version, read on. If you'd like to read the official wikipedia version, click here . Haying happens in three steps: cutting, raking and baling. This process takes several days, as the hay must be dry when baled. Moist hay molds and heats up and has even been known to spontaneously combust, burning down the barn. Gotta have dry hay. This first photo is of our haybine. The haybine not only cuts the hay, it also crimps each piece of long grass in several places, to allow for faster drying. We usually cut hay in the early afternoon, when the dew is gone. When we're done, long row of cut grass lie waiting. The hay is allowed to dry for two to three days, depending on wind and sun conditions. Obviously, the more wind and sun the days hold, the quicker the hay will dry. When we feel like the hay is nearly dry, we go out with the rake. There are diff

This Giveaway Is Now Closed!

Today starts a giveaway at Farming in the Shade! I am happy to contribute this complete hat kit (needles not included) to someone who has a knitting obsession and a small person in their life. Here are the rules (contest open to US or Canada residents only): Giveaway ends May 1 at 9 p.m. EST. Winner will be announced by Sunday, May 3. Enter by posting a comment on this blog post. Tell me something about your knitting--who taught you to knit, your favorite yarn, the coolest thing you ever knitted. Make sure you leave contact information! Earn extra entries by: 1) Following me on twitter. (If you don't know what twitter is, don't worry. It's another way to waste your time on the computer.)  Add a comment here so I will count it as one entry. 2) Tweeting this giveaway (no more than once daily). Add a comment here so I know you did it. 3) Blog about this giveaway. Add a comment (with link) here so I can go visit your blog. 4) Follow or subscribe to this blog (or tell me if have