While walking around the trees in the west yard (because we can do that now!), I took a rake to the bottom of some of the tree stumps that are all over the place.  The taller ones, to prepare them for when we can cut them close to the ground.  Other, old and rotting ones, to uncover them and make them more visible, because I keep finding them by tripping over them!

There is a large elm tree in there that I’ve walked past many times, but it wasn’t until I started raking a stump next to it that I really paused to look at its trunk.

Where I realized I was looking at … another trunk?

It looks like a tree inside a tree.

With all the clean up I’ve done, and seeing so many trees growing against each other, I am guessing that this tree had suckers growing out the bottom that no one trimmed away.  Over the years, the main trunk simply grew around the smaller tree growing against it, absorbing it into itself.

It looks like there are two more of them on the other side!

I’m sure there is some deep and meaningful metaphor that can be seen from this.

The Re-Farmer