In my life I bet I planted a thousand trees. It started when I was a small boy. Mom and Dad brought home two little whips of Colorado Blue Spruce. (to this day still one of my favorite trees)
I put them in Mom's flower beds in front of the house, next to the entrance of the home. They were just a few inches high, and needed protection from Rabbits and other pests. I fought em all, from Spider Mites on! When the trees were about two feet high I moved them to their permanent homes in the back yard. I last saw them in 1997 when I said goodbye to Michigan.
While those trees were growing, I helped plant a field of pines for the Michigan School for The Blind. I worked as a Landscaper for years, finishing as a Tree Trans planter for Schafer and sons. I liked driving the big rig that moved the trees.
My Grandfather and my father were Lumber Jacks, cutting wood for Pulp, Lumber and to use for heat in the cold Upper Peninsula winters. To this day I use trees for heat, though I wait and get ones that are fallen on their own. Propane gives me that luxury. We had one hard and fast rule about trees. You take one, you put three back! I remember the first time I set my eyes on a Live Oak. Mrs. C had taken me to one of the Plantations near Charleston S.C. I was smitten.
It's with these things in mind I'm thinking about the man that poisoned the oaks at Auburn.
I want to ask him, "Brah? You stupid? Or just Mean?"
2 comments:
The enviro wackos who oppose the harvest of trees have no idea that because of people just like you there are more trees in America than there have ever been. God put trees here for us to use but we are expected to be good stewards. Don
Trees are like people more so than you think. When they are unhappy the frown, with sullen branches. When they are happy they blossom with beauty; when they are hurt they scar and when they die, you can never look at where it once was and not remember its stature that once stood. When I was a kid, I would wander through the woods and find the biggest trees, and climb until the top started to lean, its a different world up there. It hurts me deep when I see a new generation inherit land, and clear cut it to make profit from timber. Every tree has a story, and if you listen, it will tell you all aboyut it.
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