Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Thrown in the Fire

The last couple months of winter and the first of spring are tree trimming months in the orchards. Even while the trees were coated in ice, they were being pruned. Apples need the sun to ripen, so the trees must be trimmed in order that most of the fruit bearing branches grow on the outside. Many trees end up shaped something like an umbrella and are wonderful for hiding under or turning into a house if you are a child.
For weeks we have heard the buzz of chainsaws. Sometimes they are far off and distant and sometime close. The activity level seems equivalent to summer or fall.
Yesterday morning we woke to a billowing pillar of smoke. The workers were gathering branches and burning old stumps and brush. I have often seen distant fires, but this one was quite close. Lucky for us the wind was not blowing toward the house. By last evening there was just a wisp of smoke rising from the ashes.
(That's my garden in the lower corner of the bottom picture.)

2 comments:

  1. yes thank goodness! you have had such bad headaches from the smoke in the past. LOL, apple tree trimmings being burnt. Do they know how much apple wood smoked bacon costs? They are burning up profits. Hope Hannah is well now.

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  2. That stinks! The fire I mean.
    In the real sense of the word, right?

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