Kevin Hancock writes:
It's that time of year again.
Taking down the ole tree
and thinking of a new life for the dead tree.
About 15 years ago, we planted about 75 long needle pines
on our property and over the years I've pruned about
20 of them to be eventual Christmas trees.
For the past 5 years,
my family goes into the field of trees
and selects one to cut.
Three years ago we cut a 9 foot tree with plans to use 8 feet of it.
It turns out that on the bottom foot was a major limb
that winded up the tree and made up about 40% of
the limbs on the tree.
With the bottom foot cut off the tree,
we had a real "Charlie Brown" tree.
It was a real "Family Moment" in our driveway
with my kids upset over the silly tree we had cut.
Not expecting to ever forget this experience,
I had to save the base of the tree for some sort of "Third Life."
Having just bought a lathe for my son,
it seemed approbate to turn the tree stump into a little artifact.
Naturally, this became an annual event,
though we now try to select better looking trees before we cut.
Here are a few pics of the turnings over the past 3 years.
Does anyone else in the groop
do anything interesting with their old trees?
Respectfully submitted,
Kevin Hancock
