Last year on April 19, 2022, #Mother #Nature surprised us with a snowstorm that knocked our electricity out for just about a week.
That was not the worst part about that storm. The worst part was that the heavy snow had annihilated so many trees on our property. About 20 years ago we planted six Wild Cherry tree saplings that we had gotten as a gift for joining the National Arbor Day Foundation. These awesome trees were not spared from the storm.
Many bushes that once stood well above my reach were now lying on the frozen ground.
In the Spring, these Cherry trees produced an abundance of flowers. Their pollen attracts hoards of pollinators, from bees to birds.
In the fall the wild cherries hang like ornaments, captivating even the stingiest of eyes.
In the fall the Robins would feast on the wild cherries until they had plucked every delicacy from the branches.
It wasn't until September that our disappointment waned and the cleanup process began. The branches that had broken, but still hanging on by a thread, still produced cherries.
With the trimming of the broken branches completed, the remaining intact branches will be pruned in January when the trees go dormant. I hoped to once again form a balanced canopy of new growth in the Spring.
We are constantly keeping an eye out for other damaged trees and standing dead wood.
The tree to the left of this picture is what we ended up with after removing the newly damaged branches. The other two trees will be cut back this January when dormant. Although the remaining branches are still intact and healthy they need to be removed. If these branches were to be left they would make the tree lean to one side and surely be a victim of the next heavy snowstorm.
Very little is wasted here on the farm and the additional firewood from the fallen deadwood will come in handy for sure.
After being laid up for what seems like forever, it felt great to do some physical labor. Boy, am I out of shape.
