One needle, out of hundreds of thousands on a tree.
One tree, out of six thousand at the farm.
One farm, out of hundreds in the city.
It’s crazy how starting small can make your mind expand, and I’ve felt my mind expand countless times this winter. It’s usually when I’m looking at really small things. If there’s beauty and complexity in the littlest parts of nature, how grand is the whole world? If there’s this much attention to detail in this tiny piece, what a miracle everything is. I’ve enjoyed getting granular with the farm this winter.
The first way is through taking classes in the horticulture department at Fox Valley Technical College. While entering a classroom setting for the first time in over 15 years is a bit surreal and daunting (do we ever really grow out of not knowing where to sit?!), I’m learning a lot about trees and the farm. This course focuses on plant diagnostics - determining the pests, diseases, and abiotic causes that impact plants. As you’d imagine, you have to get really detailed and specific to diagnose exactly what’s wrong with a plant and also to define what normal and good look like. It’s both a big and small part of this world; there’s so much to learn and know just to understand if I should cut this tree down, burn that plant, or accept a condition as just nature. It also fascinates me how a small thing - spores of a fungus, microscopic eggs, bacteria - can became a huge thing. Kinda makes you appreciate the small stuff.
Beyond the classroom, we conducted a sophisticated inventory of trees in different height ranges. By sophisticated I mean measuring every single tree against myself: up to my knee or below is about 2 ft or less, from the ground to my elbow is 3 1/2 ft, near my head is 5 1/2 ft, and trees beyond my reach are 7+ ft (marketable!). Certainly not exact, but efficient and close enough. Grouping trees by size is our best attempt at predicting the future and knowing how many trees we could have available each year. Our planting success rates, tree losses (hopefully not to the very things I’m studying!), and tree sales all factor into these estimates. I can’t say for certain what this means, but if you visit Leo’s Diner in Greenville and check out their mugs, you’d see our best guess.
Burning brush has proven to be an almost year round activity; it doesn’t pick favorite seasons. And if I’ve learned anything from class, I feel extra justified in burning any diseased branches. The protocol for many fungal, bacterial, viral, and pest infestations - remove and burn. Good thing we have 3 boys who are more than willing to help with this type of clean up.
This winter has also brought us back to the basics of rest, play, and movement. The cold encouraged us to cozy up and recover from the activity of the fall and Christmas. The snowy February invited adventures of sledding, skiing, and snowshoeing. I don’t always want a cold, snowy, slow winter, but I see more and more now that we need it. I can see how the small and simple everyday moments build to the magic of these remarkable years.
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