Have you ever gone from elated to not so sure about something in less than 24 hours?
I’m there now…
This is the picture I posted 2 days ago about gaining so much light on our grounds due to our neighbors cutting down a few pine trees on their property :
This is our view now and the tree cutters are still there which means more might come down :
I’m conflicted. When they asked for our permission, they said a few trees. My count as of right now is 12 or 13. I’m starting to feel like I gave my OK to a pine tree genocide here. There is really nothing for me to do about it now, it’s not like they can put them back, but in retrospect, I’m repenting for my lack of diligence when it was time to ask for more details. These were centennial trees. A few were getting on and not so healthy anymore, but most of them were. Now I’m starting to wonder if they went through proper channels, got the official okay. We live in a historic neighborhood with patrimonial homes. Many trees here are protected as well.
I won’t lie, I feel a bit sick to my stomach. The South Western edge of my happy little home looks like a clear cutting camp in the Northern Boreal Forest.
Maybe it looks worse than it is because of the trees being bare. And I’m sure I will love the long sunny evening on our back deck come spring and summer time. But for now, I feel ill. This feels like giving the OK for taking life for taking life sake and it feels wrong. My conscience is troubled, my heart shaken. I write this with the buzz of chainsaws coming through my shut and boarded windows.
I don’t think it was worth it for a few square feet of light.
Family, Faith, Food and Fabric 
Yes, it takes so long to grow a tree that size but on tue upswing LIGHT IS GOOD. I Remember my dad cutting just hundreds of smaller trees and large ones too and bush…at our resort in NE Minnesota a few years back. I mean it was STARK to look at and I was so angry about it. REALLY , how could he do that???I wondered…..but…you are right, in the spring the lift that gave to the cabins and yard was glorious. So , do not be hard on yourself, realize that too will be your benefit, PLUS the trees reminaing will bush out now threefold because they are not scrunched in with the others. It is good to sit in LIGHT…..for all. –Blessings and much love, Merri
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Thank you for your words… As I read your comment, I’M BLINDED by the sun hitting the windows at my back, windows that were dark at this of day before. I think it’s the smell of the sap wafting from all those live, healthy trees that got to me when I walked out. We had to cut a tree last year. It was sick and hollowing in the middle, dangerous every time the wind would blow. When we cut it down, it had a smell of sick. We knew we had done the right thing. This smells like life. It,s very troubling to my senses. But I know it will pass. I just hope they do good on their word and put one tree for every tree taken down.
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Aww I’m sorry to hear it. Could you tell them that you don’t want them to cut anymore?
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I think they are done now… I don’t see anymore marked. I hope so. I may go knock on their door tomorrow if I see the workers again. 😦
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That is sad. I cried for a whole day after we took out 3 huge sweet gum trees on our front yard when we lived in Virginia Beach.
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There is a majestic nature to trees. Like old wise monks… watching the passage of time so silently and still. Swaying with the wind, adapting, resilient… I had to fight back tears all afternoon.
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Oh wow, I am so sorry, for you and the trees. My heart breaks when trees come down, especially ones that are still healthy. I totally understand how you are feeling.
Don’t let it get you too down, let it rest, let the light shine, and maybe one day on a beautiful summer night you will smile and feel like it worked out just fine.
Hugs. xo
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I know it will be okay. And if the ladies that live behind us honor their promise, they should be planting lots of fruit trees : pears, apples and plums… They will provide fruit, shelter, pollen… benefiting so many living creatures… It was just a shock today I think. Too much at once. Thank you xo
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Hugs ❤️
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Thank you xo
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hey, that’s a lot for “a few”! but I guess it’s all interpretation. It’s always sad to see trees put down by man when it has taken them decades to grow. Maybe you can ask your neighbours if they’re done? Just to be sure they won’t bring any more down…
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Believe me I will. If I see the workers coming back for more than picking up logs. That is another thing… I wonder what they will do with all that amazing wood. Sigh… I understand their predicament. They have 1/4 acre that can’t grow anything because of all the acidic soil. Pine trees are horrible for any kind of plantation or culture. I just want to make sure they plant back all the fruit trees they said they would.
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I’m so sorry. This happened in my neighborhood growing up. There was a whole windbreak of giant majestic pines and they were clear cut to make way for “development”. I wish I had some words of wisdom for you, but what’s done is done. All I can do is send you a “mental hug” and tell you that life lost makes way for new life and new growth. I do hope they honor their plans to plant fruit trees. Be well.
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Thank you for the hugs. The late afternoon sun shining through our back windows make it easier. So much light now. But they did promise again they would replace every single one next spring so that makes me happy. 🙂
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Oh dear, I’m hoping things will seem better soon. The farmer down the road from us cut down quite a few trees in the woods between us a couple of years ago, and at the time it seemed terrible – hearing the saws and then seeing all the debris lying there seemed like seeing wounded bodies just left lying where they’d been cut down. I still don’t like it, but nature has done it’s work and any debris that was left feels very much part of the woodland life now. Hopefully the landscape for you will mellow and heal itself with time, you’re just at the most brutal point right now.
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Thank you for the encouragement. Our neighbors actually asked us how we liked it, we made them PROMISE they would keep their word and replant and they said they would. They felt bad. But I wasn’t crazy, they decided last minute to cut down 4 more trees than anticipated. No wonder it felt like so much. :-S
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Pine is a softwood. Hopefully the trees will become boards that are used to build something beautiful. The shock will fade and the fruit trees will be nice. You might have new wildflowers popping up where the trees stood now that light gets to the ground.
As the days get shorter and the sun lower the additional light through the windows will be nice. It’s a big change, one that I’d need to adjust to, but I think it’s all going to work out nicely. Just think how beautiful the trees will be when the bloom each spring.
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Oh I know they will be. I just know it won’t be for a while. But yes, the future will be silly with blooms and fruit. It will be wonderful! 🙂
Thank you for the encouragement. I also know that our own trees will hide much of the bare-ness in the Spring. It is just so empty now because of the late season.
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