Comments on: Felling the balm of Gilead

By: danny hilder

danny hilder — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:29:03 +0000

Sad to lose the tree but that Haiku was beautiful. Inspired writing. Thanks

By: Lard

Lard — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:52:44 +0000

I still use balm from gilead buds, works a treat.

By: hannah

hannah — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 01:11:11 +0000

wow thats a great resource u helped me with my homewok thanks a bunch!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 21:45:34 +0000

Very moving story….I feel a similar jolt when I visit my parent’s house and look for the towering giant that used to occupy the back yard. It looks sadly barren back there now.

By: mikaelah

mikaelah — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:43:11 +0000

your writing and images take me places that I never expected to contemplate …

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 11:25:37 +0000

Zhoen – I’m sure it must have been a much more drawn-out, piecemeal process to remove a large tree from a small lot. Fortunately, this was over rather quickly, like shooting a lamed horse.

“Tree of heaven” (ailanthus) is becoming a scourge here on the mountain, too – an invasive colonizer that is almost impossible to eradicate.

leslee – “Losing an old pet” – that’s how I felt when the big old butternut tree next to my front porch fell over back in August 2003. I still miss it.

Rebecca – Of course, cutting dow a tree in the woods is an altogether riskier proposition, especially since few are as large and heavy as our balm of gilead, and are thus much more likely to twist, kick back, etc. So there are always good stories.

We do burn some wood, but we have enough downed oak, black cherry and black locust on the mountain to be snobs about what we cut.

Larry – Thanks. Yeah, I can handle the danger; it’s the sense of loss that’s no fun.

By: Larry Ayers

Larry Ayers — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 06:10:21 +0000

I’m familiar with that tree-felling adrenalin buzz. Such danger, unpredictability, and excitement, culminating with the can’t-turn-back-now accelerating swish-crash of the actual fall of the tree.

The haiku at the end was a very appropriate end for your essay.

By: Rebecca Clayton

Rebecca Clayton — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 23:54:57 +0000

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen one of these trees. I’m glad to hear it came down without a serious hitch. I have considerable acquaintance among independent loggers (it’s one of a very few ways to make a living here), and the process of dropping a tree near a house and powerlines always produces a fairly long story (more exciting than fish stories, in my opinion). It’s really an art without an audience, and if you can’t tell the story, well, you’re a tree falling in the woods with no one to hear.

I don’t suppose it would be suitable for firewood….but you don’t burn wood, do you?

By: leslee

leslee — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 16:42:59 +0000

It is sad to lose a tree, especially one that’s been such a fixture in your family. A couple of years ago they cut down a tree that had been hanging over my deck for many years, so close it felt like I was in a tree house when I sat out there. In the winter I used to pull the closest branch and shake the snow off of it. It felt like losing an old pet when they sawed it down.

By the way, I like your haiku.

By: Zhoen

Zhoen — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 21:11:59 +0000

I remember when my parents took out the dying tree from our backyard. A tiny, narrow back yard in the middle of Detroit, the trunk was a good three feet in diameter. I was amazed at the noise, and the amount of leaves and branches, as I helped haul the smaller ones, and dismember the others. I miss that tree, and sat on the stump after it had gone.

They never could kill the Tree of Heaven weed that loomed and dropped evil smelling litter near the garage, and engulfed the fence from the neighbor’s side.