Foster Road farm sign

Farm Journal

Thoughts and images from life at Foster Road

 

Entry: APRIL 13, 2009

 

Black walnut’s last daysHere’s a problem some renovators face: changing something that was especially precious to the previous owners. At Foster Road, that will be the felling of a giant black walnut tree. According to Marge, it was Mr. Sweet’s “pet, adversary, challenge, and companion,” and it truly is magnificent.

 

Unfortunately, it is also diseased and sits twelve feet from the house with massive, breaking limbs overhanging the roof. I know it must be a hundred years old, and it’s had a good life. But I regret that I will be the one to end its run.

 

This week the tree will come down in a complex operation that will take two days to complete. I hope there is salvageable wood in the tree, but I will not be surprised to find the trunk is hollow. Some of the limbs look healthy and I expect to end up with some beautiful black walnut wood that I will sticker and store until it’s ready to use somewhere in the house. I’ve offered to share some wood with the family so they have a keepsake from the old gentleman that sheltered their childhoods.