RIP on the Homestead

Sometimes, things don't go quite according to plan. And unfortunately, try as we might, some of our trees are dying or dead, and they have to go! Taking down trees is not the easiest work, but with my mom's help, we definitely made short work of all the tree removal (so far) on the homestead!

The First Tree Down

When we first moved into the new house, as is normal, the homeowner insurance provider sent a representative to our house and told us about a couple of things that needed to be changed in order for insurance to cover damage done to certain structures should it ever occur. One of these such changes was to get rid of the tree right by the garden shed because it was leaning toward the structure, and if it fell, it could cause major damage to the roof and one side of the building.

This tree is actually an heirloom apple tree. It is supposedly the species of apple that Johnny Appleseed spread throughout the land. For that reason, the previous owner tried to grow several of the same trees in buckets. This left us with one larger tree and multiple much smaller ones growing in a relavitely small space. One such small tree was growing literally right next to the building potentially causing problems with the foundation work.

While it was still standing last year (duh!), the main tree also very obviously was mostly dead. Only a few leaves were one the very tips of the branches, and the apples were few and far between and rotten before they were ripened adequately enough for consumption.

The original plan was to cut everything down and start completely fresh with no apple trees near the garden shed at all. However, as we were cutting (or Mom was cutting, and I was clearing the space), we found two (presumably) apple trees that are doing very well and still far enough away from the building they shouldn't be a problem. We decided to leave those two trees, and if insurance says we cannot keep them there, we will just cut them down. They're too big to try uprooting and replanting in the orchard (I think).

Either way, the area looks so much better now than before!

Crisis Averted

About a month ago, I posted a short about disaster almost hitting the homestead. In it, I pointed out that there was a tree right by the septic tank system and alarm that was dead/dying and huge branches fell around from the rotten tree. We knew that as soon as warmer weather permitted, we'd have to remove the rotten tree to prevent it from falling, crushing, or otherwise hurting the septic tank alarm and system.

As we were cutting the tree down, we had to be careful not to fell the tree on the system. To better predict where it will fall and to clean up the septic tank area, we pulled tons of weeds that went up to my waist. These weeds were stick-like (Mom and I both believe they are sticktights - yuck!), so when we went to clean up the branches after felling the tree, we put them in the burn pile as well!

The excessive weeds and bringing down trees and branches destroyed the protective wire fencing around the septic tank, so we still have to go back through there and fix that fencing, but overall, the entire area looks a lot better than before!

We also still have some more trees to tear down, but they aren't as pressing as the two that came down today! Soon, we will have more videos up of us taking care of even more trees on our property!