Just as we humans age and become decrepit and ill, so do other living things. It is the way of nature, the continuation and cessation of life, the beginning and the end. It is sad when something beautiful is no longer with us here on Earth, but perhaps that is our own selfish desire to want beauty to last forever. It doesn't.
So it was with the Elm tree. There are three elm trees planted in the yard. Two were planted in the 1950s, when the first farmers settled on this land. They moved an old farmhouse from nearby by horses and set it on concret walls, though the floor remains dirt until today. Those farmers had visions for the generations to come and planted trees along the driveway that are still there, over sixty years ago. And they planted the three Elm trees.
The trees are beautiful, enormous, branching out and shading a broad piece of the farm yard. One of the branches of the tree closest to the new house shattered and came down in a thunderstorm last year. Some kind young men who were bed and breakfast guests offered to remove it and chop it for firewood. I was grateful for their help and for the fact that for some reason I moved my car that night or it would have been crushed.
Then in the last thunderstorm a few weeks ago, the enormous branching trunk split cleaving off two of the three main sections, with the third still remaining standing. It was immanent that the exposed branches would further split during the next storm and crash to the ground. The young turkeys roost in that tree, or rather they did and the birds all slumbered under its shady and protective canopy during the rain and sun. This morning when I went out to let the rams out, the worst had happened and the two split branches were completely down. Only the ground was holding them from breaking off completely. There is a tree service coming next week to safely remove those branches which are huge trunks in their own right. Elm wood is a hard wood and will make excellent fire wood for the following year.
That part of the yard will be barren and stark after having such a beautiful old tree grace the landscape for so long. The turkeys will have to find a new tree in which to roost . The farm will not be quite the same without that old soldier but alas, there is always an end to something beautiful. Sigh. three
So it was with the Elm tree. There are three elm trees planted in the yard. Two were planted in the 1950s, when the first farmers settled on this land. They moved an old farmhouse from nearby by horses and set it on concret walls, though the floor remains dirt until today. Those farmers had visions for the generations to come and planted trees along the driveway that are still there, over sixty years ago. And they planted the three Elm trees.
The trees are beautiful, enormous, branching out and shading a broad piece of the farm yard. One of the branches of the tree closest to the new house shattered and came down in a thunderstorm last year. Some kind young men who were bed and breakfast guests offered to remove it and chop it for firewood. I was grateful for their help and for the fact that for some reason I moved my car that night or it would have been crushed.
Then in the last thunderstorm a few weeks ago, the enormous branching trunk split cleaving off two of the three main sections, with the third still remaining standing. It was immanent that the exposed branches would further split during the next storm and crash to the ground. The young turkeys roost in that tree, or rather they did and the birds all slumbered under its shady and protective canopy during the rain and sun. This morning when I went out to let the rams out, the worst had happened and the two split branches were completely down. Only the ground was holding them from breaking off completely. There is a tree service coming next week to safely remove those branches which are huge trunks in their own right. Elm wood is a hard wood and will make excellent fire wood for the following year.
That part of the yard will be barren and stark after having such a beautiful old tree grace the landscape for so long. The turkeys will have to find a new tree in which to roost . The farm will not be quite the same without that old soldier but alas, there is always an end to something beautiful. Sigh. three
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