Yesterday, we had it cut down. We used to have several as beautiful as it was. Sadly, trees age and must be cut.

This was the last huge one within our yard left over from early homesteading days. It was growing on slant and leaning over the power lines, fence and a road. Several neighbors would have been at risk if we hadn't removed it. but it feels like I've lost a friend.

In two days, the tree company will return to take away the carnage. There's plenty of firewood for someone who needs its. A neighbor wants the mulch to nourish his vast new plantings.

I have a feeling the tree blames me for it's demise. Silly, I know.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2018 11:29AM by Cheryl.

Definitely something to pine for...

Isn't it interesting what can bring up that sense of loss. And sure, loosing a tree that you have been so used to on your property is a loss.

Why not grab a small piece of the tree and hang on to it for awhile?

When I was eight, we had three huge cedars outside my bedroom window.

I came home from school one day, and they were stumps about an inch high. I was devastated. Pop got some idea that they were unstable and would crush the house. That winter, we had a hellacious wind storm. We sat in our dining room and watched cedars go over one after the other. They looked like toothpicks spilled.

Not good for mulch. Pine needles are full of turpentine.

Good for groundcover, the turpentine will keep the weeds down. After the chips age, they can be covered with a beauty bark. Nothing goes to waste.

Between firewood and mulch, I'd say almost 100% will continue as a "giving tree".

If possible, grab some small branches with pine cones and keep them as heirloom Christmas decorations; I did that with cones from a couple of our trees when the Western Bark Beetle wiped out a stand of dozens of trees on the ranch.

At least it’s going to good use and didn’t get cut down in vain.
It would of been a liability if it damaged any property during a storm if it hit anything .

The circle of life.

My mom lost about 20 trees due to drought and bark beetles. She had Pondersosa and Sugar Pines. It was catastrophic for her to have them removed (expensive too!). She's replaced the pines with colorful deciduous trees.

I know that feeling, Cheryl.

I am so sorry for your loss, because it DOES feel like someone you deeply cared for has died.

I am still processing the feelings I felt when I saw that the present owners of the house my parents built had cut down the eucalyptus tree in "our" front yard.

My parents planted that tree as a seedling, when I was about three years old--and without realizing it, I had thought of that tree as something akin to a sibling....a sibling who grew up with me, year by year.

I understand.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2018 12:45PM by Tevai.

I will make an arrangement of branches with pine cones and enjoy the aroma for as long as possible.

Other trees will eventually mask the blank space of the old and stunning tree.

This was wonderful to read. Great post.

"Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured. And every young farmboy knows that the hardest and noblest wood has the narrowest rings, that high on the mountains and in continuing danger the most indestructible, the strongest, the ideal trees grow."~Hermann Hesse’s Trees: Reflections and Poems
https://gerryco23.wordpress.com/2013/10/12/requiem-for-a-tree-a-luminous-emptiness/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2018 03:25PM by Elder Berry.

Slightly O/T, I have a friend in California whose Mother passed a couple of years ago. She lived in the Nevada City area.

Friend has been working at clearing out things and fixing up the property to sell. A few people that are interested have major concerns about the dead/dying trees and under brush.

According to my friend, it is almost impossible clear out the fire hazard trees because of the permits needed that require environment reviews and impact statements.

His assessment is that if a forest fire comes on the property the results will be the same as what's happened in Paradise.

Nature is trying to get back to a balance where small fires were the norm, but first all the build up over the last century needs to be addressed.

I'm bonded to the trees I planted in my backyard.

One in my front yard has been there for decades. It's a maple tree. When we had an ice storm in 2006 the trees in our metro area broke in half like twigs. That tree is made of elastic. Nothing broke at all, just bent a little and sprang back. :)

It's my "tao" tree.

I've lost a weeping willow in the backyard from inclement weather. Some shrubs. The trees that have survived our harsh northern climate have been (drum roll,) pine trees in my backyard. So far my Austrian pine is the tallest one. Planted as a sapling, now it towers in the backyard over the power lines (not leaning though, just straight up.) A white fir pine is growing tall and gracefully (planted from a sapling.) I lost a blue spruce - it lasted only two winters here. In its place is a Black Hills spruce that is suited to this climate (zones 2-3.) Planted from a sapling this spring, it still looks good in the dead of winter.

It makes me sad to realize that trees have a lifespan. Mine are still growing, so not near their 'end' yet. But still. I hope they outlast me by a country mile. :)

I'm sorry, Cheryl. I love trees as well. When my real estate agent called me to tell me about my current home, she said, "I've found your tree house." She knew me well.

My brother had to cut down two beautiful trees on his property some years ago. He replanted with new trees, and I've been surprised at how quickly they've grown. It is a delight to watch them grow and develop.

I have a bunch of tulip poplars in my back woods. They grow very tall and are very brittle trees. I've lost quite a few over the past 15 years. Every time a storm comes along I tell the remaining trees to hang on! I keep meaning to replant with new trees, and I think this will be the year to start.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2018 05:29PM by summer.

I understand why it had to go, but I share your sense of loss, Cheryl.

Other than the horrid loss of human life in California fires this year, the loss of trees has been awful.

This makes me sad too :(. I have been a tree lover since I was very small. We lived by to the Capitol and I would take my baby books and read to the trees. When so many were lost in the tornado in 1999 I cried for days. When trees near us are taken down I do my best to drown out the sound. Hell, I even hate to prune my tree in front of the house!

Susan I/S Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would take my baby books and read to
> the trees.

How how sweet, Susan. Truly. :)

There were no other kids that lived close and adults would get too busy for me. The trees always had time. I had a great imagination, I always said checked in with the stone lions too. Shocking to think now about a four-year-old running around alone but everyone knew my family and watched out for me.

So I would be mourning, too. We have a huge sweet cherry tree that is actually blocking a beautiful maple tree so we can't see the maple very well. And we just can't bring ourselves to cut down the cherry tree. We never get any cherries. The birds get them all. My ex never sprays it (even if he planted it) and so the cherries have worms. But we don't cut it down.

So if I had to cut down the big pine tree we have, I'd be upset, too.