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Wednesday, May 06, 2015

Tough

Little oaks from great tree stumps grow.....

A trio of marvelous old trees once graced the entrance to a pair of the farthest back fields on the place. We are believers in hedgerows and old trees and sharing with the wild things, but those beauties grew so huge that it became impossible to get machinery into the fields.

They had to come down; we have to work the land in order to pay the taxes to keep it in agriculture...I hate to tell you how fast this place would be developed if we let go. There have been many offers over the years.....and to eat as well, a habit of which we have grown quite fond. 

Years ago they did, recycled into firewood, which is a truly renewable resource. Oak is slow to dry, but long to burn.....

Just how renewable trees are was made clear when Alan took me all the way to the back of the land on Sunday. It had been a while since I had been back there. It is a very long walk and I am slow. No saddle horses any more, and only one tractor, which is usually in use.




I was amazed to see that the two oak trees on the southern side of the gateway had resprouted. One is not going to amount to much, just a witch's broom of random twiggery.

However, the other one has thrust up a whole new trunk and branches right out of the heart of its parent tree. It isn't as easy to see as it might be, but if you look closely you can pick out the muscular young oak springing from the stump of the old tree.

That's tough!




4 comments:

joated said...

The hill behind my place in the Adirondacks was once home to some pretty large red maples. They were cut down quite a long time ago by a previous owner but each stump put forth three or four suckers that are now 5 inches or more in diameter. They aren't as hardy as the originals with a few already dying but still...

It's amazing how resilient certain species of trees--as well as critters--can be.

Cathy said...

That is really cool!

Terry and Linda said...

You live in a lush and green paradise!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/sherlock-boomer

threecollie said...

Joated, you are so right. After the big Adirondack ice storm when we were young, we used to see three that had been bent right to the ground just going ahead and growing that way. I haven't hiked there in years, but I'll bet some of them are still there.

Cathy, I was delighted. i hated when they had to cut them down, but we had to get into the two fields back there.

Linda, it is kinda isn't it? Getting dry now though.