Well, it did finally happen, some time while I was taking my nap.
The broken willow that was stuck on neighboring trees came down. Not all the way, but as much as it’s going to, until we start cutting away branches.
I had thought this was two trunks, twisted around each other, but no. This is one trunk that split and twisted as it fell. There are still three trunks remaining around this old willow.
We have some cooler, wetter weather over the next day or two, so it might be a while before we can start breaking this down and cleaning it up. Running an extension cord this far out, for our chain saw, is going to be an issue.
We could really use a gas powered chainsaw!
Ah, well. We use what we have.
There are some branches on there we might be able to keep and use for wattle weaving.
This tree may be about a hundred years old, is rotting and dying – but it’s a willow, and they are very hard to kill! There are suckers growing around the base, and even the deadest parts of the tree can suddenly shoot out fresh growth. I’m pretty sure the four (now three) trunks growing out from a rotted out base are suckers from an original tree that died long ago. When I was a kid and climbing this tree, it was always these four trunks, and they were pretty big, 50 years ago. I suspect that even after we eventually lose the remaining three trunks, we will still have willow growing here.
I might even deliberately stick a sucker into the rotted out centre. With willow, you can just stick the branches into the ground, and most of the time they’ll start growing.
Somehow, I feel we can learn a lesson from such resiliance.
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 