Goodbye Trees

                                  -17 January 2019


Image of rope used in Tree Felling



Thinking:


Imagws of men thinking about how
            to cut down trees in tropical backyard

Imagws of men thinking about how to cut down
              trees in tropical backyard


Sharpening:

Images of man sharpening chain saw in
        tropical backyard


Trimming:

-One

Images of man climbing coconut tree to
        tie rope before felling

Images of coconut tree in tropical
        backyard being trimmed before felling

Tying:


Images of men clearing debris from
        under tree in tropical backyard before felling it

Felling:

Imagws of tropical backyard tree being felled

Images of coconut tree in tropical backyard being
        felled

Cutting:

Imagws of recently felled trees
            being cut up in tropical backyard

Images of recently felled coconut trees being cut up
            in tropical backyard


Then Repeated as Required

-Two

Images of coconut tree being
              felled in tropical backyard

Images of felled coconut tree in tropical
              backyard

Images of men sawing up felled coconut tree in
              tropical backyard

Again:

-Three

Imagws of man climbing a
                  tropical backyard coconut tree before felling it

Imags of tropical backyard tree being felled

Images of coconut trees
                  being felled in tropical backyard

Imagws of men sawing up felled coconut trees
                  in tropical backyard

Images of tropical backyard coconut tree being
                  cut up

...and Again:

-Four

Images of tropical backyard
                  during tree cutting

Imagws of debris from tree cutting in tropical
                  backyard

Images of tree cutting in tropical backyard

Images of tree being felled in tropical
                  backyard

Images of felled tree being cut up in tropical
                  bckyard

Creating Chaos out of Order:

Images of tropical
                  backyard with men cutting down trees

Imagws of men cutting up trees in tropical
                  backyard

Images of chaos caused by cutting trees in
                  tropical backyard

...and Order out of Chaos:

Images of tropical backyard
                  garden patches bordered by sawn up coconut tree logs

Images of trees being cut up in tropical
                  bakyard

Imagws of men building garden borders in
                  tropical backyard from sawn up coconut logs

Images of tropical backyard during tree
                  cutting

Imagws of tropical backyard during tree
                  felling

Images of tropical backyard garden borders
                  being constructed ffom sawed up logs

Images of tropicl backyard garden borders made
                  from sawed up coconut trees

Images of tidy tropical backyard after felling
                  trees



--------------------

Image of coconut tree

Too Many Trees:

For some time now we have been planning to cut down a number of Coconut and Mahogany trees on our  small plot of land.

The price of copra (dried coconut meat) is not high enough to make production an economic priority, Additionally, coconut trees suck nutrition from the soil -and can be extremely dangerous when coconuts and other debris fall from the trees.

Mahogany is an invasive species -that also poisons other plants.
Too many trees also create unwanted shade -and prevent a wider variety of crops from growing.

So we prefer to plant both native, and sometimes exotic, edible fruit trees. Even non-edible native trees provide habitat for a wide range of birds, lizards and insects. -as well as forage for goats and pigs.


However, the cutting of coconut trees is regulated by the governmental Coconut Authority -and they had recently had a ban in place. Other activities kept us from felling until now.

In order to minimize the damage -and give us time to process the debris -we started by felling just four coconut trees.


-----

Image of debris after tree
                              felling

Collateral Damage:

Felling trees is dangerous, skilled, work. Especially where space is limited -due to the presence of other crops or human habitat.

The collateral damage was the worst with the fourth tree. One Mango was severely trimmed and another one cut down completely in order to fell the last coconut tree.

This left a huge pile of debris that could not all be stacked away neatly (for forage) or given directly to the animals.

My cutting list -which provided for quartered  coconut logs being used along the borders of several garden patches was exceeded by the fourth tree -so there were no plans for using the logs. The remaining tree trunks were therefore just sawed into "manageable" lumps and left along the hedge for disposal later.

The other three trees, however, were generally disposed of quickly and efficiently -and most of the mess cleared up by the end of the day.

Clearing up the remains of the last tree, will certainly take quite a lot of time and effort.

But in general, the garden seems very much improved -and the effort should be well rewarded as the existing, and soon to be planted, vegetation responds to the new situation.

--------------------

Imagws of workers going home after cutting trees all
            day in tropical backyard


--------------------
Goodbye Ihid V
--------------------


Garden Diary
January 2019
February 2019

Country Life
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Trevor Batten
 <trevor at tebatt dot net>
 Baclayon 2019
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