All Spruced Up

On Monday, March 24, 2014, things really started to look different in the Cook yard.  We got a call from the arborist that morning that they were able to come out and take to take down our trees.  We scrambled out of bed to finish chopping out the cedar shrubs so that all of the shrubs and tree limbs could be chipped at the same time. We lucked out on the weather too!  It was a beautiful, dry day. Amazing. 

Peter is loving the reciprocating saw.

Conquered that shrub!

Bret and Damon from Mangold Tree Services drove up with their bucket truck and awesome chipper affectionately known a the "Chuck n' Duck."  Damon had a few stitches on his brow that I wondered might have been a result of a time when he didn't duck quite fast enough. Below is a short video of that thing in action.  WOW. 

The first tree to come down was a larch. This tree is a deciduous conifer tree. It loses all of its needles every year and looks dead until spring. It was growing really close to one of our spruces and we figured it was a volunteer. It needed to come down. As it came down, we got a chance to see the new needles and new cones up close.  Each year, these only bud at the very top of the tree.

We also limbed up the two spruces on our property to above the roof line of our house allowing air and light to penetrate the yard. I was worried that it would seem too bare, but after they were trimmed, it just looked...well, spruced up!

The maple on the top side of the property also got a trim. I didn't really like that tree as it was just not visually pleasing, but the kids love to climb in among the large branches and decorate it with flowers.  Our designer took one look at the decorated tree and decided it was a sacred space for the kids.  I suppose he is right. Sofia says she likes to go there to be alone and quiet. It makes her feel happy. After the trim, I think it might become a favorite of mine. 

Last climb in the birch before it came down.

When the first few branches of the birch came off, it started pouring with water. The birch trees suck up an amazing amount of water in the spring. We learned that this water is a delicacy in Russia where it is harvested and bottled. It is sweet and refreshing and is a natural source of xylitol.  We decided to try some before the tree came down. It was very good!  It reminded me of drinking coconut water, but with more of an apple flavor. Not bad at all.  

Peter catching the birch water in his mouth.

Watching the birch come down was the best show all day. Part of the tree was really diseased. Only the shell of the bark remained. 

After it was all said and done, the tree service left us with the chips so that we can make a chip path in our yard and the logs and stumps so that we can inoculate them with mushrooms!  

We have ordered shiitake, maitake, chicken of the woods, lions mane, wine cap, and white elm oyster mushrooms for our logs, stumps and chip path.  The mushrooms will take years to digest the stumps and the root systems of the trees, but in the mean time we will be getting edible mushroom crops on a regular basis. I can't wait!  Darren is determine to develop more of a taste for mushrooms, but I will be in heaven right away. Whee! There will be more about that in another blog post when we get our mushroom spawn and start the inoculation process.  We have to wait about a month or so for the logs and stump to lose some of the anti-fungal compounds that the trees naturally produce. In our wood chip path by the driveway and street, we will inoculate with a bioluminescent mushroom, panellus stipticus.   Hopefully, we will get to see it glow a bit, but if not, it is still useful for its bioremediation properties. We will definitely post photos if we get some lumination from them.  

At the end of the day, we were exhausted and satisfied at all the work accomplished. We got a chance to enjoy the first outdoor fire of the season, complete with s'mores. We are looking forward to the next step.