RicelandMeadows

July 17, 2016

Well, I’m back at working on the big tree. I have it almost finished now. There are just three big pieces left to go. I will have them worked up over the next week or so. I just need a chainsaw with a three foot bar. Sure, I can do it with my two footer and a whole lot of extra work, but I am content to wait. My friend has the saw, I just need to wait on his schedule.

This was a massive white oak. She was a very old tree.

Two foot off the ground, the stump measured eight feet, seven inches across. The main trunk is over five feet thick. I have almost everything else cut, split and stacked. This has been an awesome project, cleaning up the wind blown tree. It has supplied the wood for heating two households and the fuel needed for boiling our maple syrup for three years. This year will be that third year. I think they may even be a little left over for next year. One thing for sure, she has given her whole life.

Abundance, first with her shade. Then she began to give up acorns for all sorts of wildlife along with her ever growing shade. She had done so for well over 300 years! Even in her death, she still gives of herself. The wood for fuel, one last crop of acorns and the nutrients from the rotting wood of very small branches to the deep roots that held her in place for such a long time, make me say thank you for this grand old matron. I will miss her…