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well

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when i got to B to turn on the water…..

this is the road down  to the big gate.   The way  Out.

 


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just about in the middle….a trunk broken.   maybe about 20 ft up.   the Whole upper tree is balanced there   the top having taken down or over ,  several smaller trees and balances  in their branches.   There are actually 2 Pines down.  The first and largest broke at Earth….drought    and its branches intertwined with one close by,  took that one with it.   the broken off one.   Understanding the story of this Hill,  this Oak and Pine Forest would maybe ease the sense of loss.   ?   i don't know.  Seeing very large trees…fallen…

there is a sensation i cannot find words for.     Would they have lived on and on if there was not this drought?   Already they are some hundreds of years old?     and yes…there is that thing about Nurse Trees which is Real and very beauty Full,  but this forest does not need that,   i don't think?,   it is thick.   And maybe more thick than it might have been without the advent of Foreign People.   I really need to get to Verbena Fields.   They will know the story.

 


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they came.    First Alyssia then Jenny then grandson Jeff and then Jenny's man.    in the distance,  Jax and Emrie.   3 chain saws,  only 1 of which worked…maintenance needed….but the road is Clear.   Branches cut and hauled down to the gate where the next round of the rented chipper will turn them into mulch.   It's On Going,   This Hill,   and why it would be so so good if they were able to LIVE here.   it could become…..Some Every Day.

It was only 91.   There was some strong breeze,  almost small Wind.    Things dimmed by smoke from the Mosquito Fire,  not a threat here,  but incidentally…grew 17,000 acres in 4 hours yesterday.   Not a threat here,  but "Their"  Fire has become "Our" Fire anymore.      Just

Fire.   

as i type      Wind rises and for the first time in weeks,    it is   Comfortable.   

A long time ago when i first got here someone expressed interest in the Pine needles for basket making….was it you,  Beth?????  but here they are….trillions and Beauty FULL and perfect.   I would be happy to send.     Basket making is hard on your hands.  Jenny said today…maybe we should ALL work together   to make just  One Basket.  a Hill Basket.  

 

 

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27 responses to “well”

  1. jaime Avatar
    jaime

    Grace, I had mentioned that to you. I would love to try. I will email you my address.
    I am so happy there was a breeze for you. This past week has been something else. I wouldn’t have been able to make it through but I find your efforts and successes intrepid.
    The chicken of the woods mushrooms have finally started appearing here in the east. It took a 7 inch rainfall. Something else.

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  2. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    oh Jaime…YES!!!!! i will be SO
    HAPPY
    to send
    Chicken of the Woods…oh…chicken of the woods…breathe and breathe, o GROW o Love and GROW

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  3. Deb G Avatar
    Deb G

    I hope that it works someday for everyone, that you can all be there. The needles are very beautiful. I’ve been planning on trying with the pine needles that fall from my neighbor’s tree. They are much shorter so maybe!

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  4. Liz A Avatar
    Liz A

    I am re-reading Braiding Sweetgrass right now … and now I am recalling how the ash basketmakers harvested trees, making room for younger trees to grow … we have lost the ability to harvest trees wisely, if ever we had the ability to begin with … likewise with so many other plants, we are either too greedy or too complacent, not having the sense of how to work with the plants to our mutual benefit … and that includes how to use fire effectively, so now it threatens rather than aids in forest management

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  5. Jan Rowan Avatar
    Jan Rowan

    I was so glad to see your family there to make your path clear again…we need each other more than ever now…..

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  6. CatherinE Avatar
    CatherinE

    Something about a tree falling is so shocking. We have the notion that they are stable, even though we know they fall. I didn’t realize drought contributes, but it makes sense. My partner has his sights set on cutting down some trees around here and I’m dreading it. But we live in a clearing and depend on sun for gardening, so it’s hard to defend them.

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  7. jude Avatar
    jude

    it’s hard to find a big tree down. But to hear a big tree fall, it happens here unseen, and oh what a symphony.
    what has to happen for you all to be there?

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  8. Joanne in Maine Avatar
    Joanne in Maine

    We regularly cut trees here in my part of coastal Maine. It keeps the others healthy. This Fall one very very tall and untrustworthy one must come down before it hits the new neighbor’s house or our bedroom.. And it will be added to the wood chip pile and the larger pieces will travel to become firewood to warm houses- not mine. Wood smoke is dangerous to my asthma.

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  9. Peggy McG Avatar
    Peggy McG

    Oh my! Thank goodness it happened where it did! So glad to hear of the temps dropping a bit, but oh my, it is still hot for you! I Love your Family!

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  10. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    I love how your family group together .. I never really think about you living alone on the hill. Very happy that you’re feeling a breeze.

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  11. Laura Avatar
    Laura

    Well. That is a LARGE job. I love your family photo so much.
    I have ordered The Hidden Life of Trees. I can hardly wait…

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  12. Laura Avatar
    Laura

    I’m glad you were able to sleep through it.
    You were probably exhausted.

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  13. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    Love the ‘can-do tribe’ of yours. i too wish they could live on the hill with you, as it would make events like this easier, less concerning. Glad you have a clear way out now and cooler temps (mostly us too). I’ve been wondering about that fire. We still have a big one down here, plus flash floods and so on.
    I recall making a basket (sort of a round tray) with long pine needles. I think a Life Basket made by all of you would be grand. Even Emrie could help 🙂
    22 years ago a tri-trunked oak split and crashed onto power lines, causing a transformer to explode…woke my son and I out of sound sleep in the early morning. My bedroom window flashed blue & my neighbor’s dryers caught on fire! So dramatic! Glad your was less of an event. I just was watching a nature show that happened to say how important tree stumps like your are to the health and other living beings. Perfect timing 🙂

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  14. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    these i think are Perfect. I would be so so Happy to
    send some to you
    their use, by you and Jaime and who ever else would
    HONOR this Tree, this Hill, this Time of California
    in the land of these United States, N America, Earth World

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  15. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    there is so much we didn’t imagine needing to know, so
    we never even knew we didn’t know
    but now we do
    now it’s Time, because we know

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  16. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    they Show Up. Get things done.
    Jeff is a city person. Jenny’s Man is of Jenny.
    it’s Jenny.my daughter. her daughter Alyssia. Alyssia’s daughter Emrie.
    the lineage. Emrie hauled branches.
    i love them all, each for their own Selves, how they are a part of it All Here, in their own way
    and days like this, there’s no question. They Get it done.

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  17. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    I have never before experienced a TREE falling. In Michigan, Oregon, New Mexico. Trees were Forever.
    the Pines here….seem so vulnerable and their size makes this so startling….so close to 200 ft…yet…they break and fall…i cannot understand.
    Jenny, Alyssia and i….resisting any idea of “thinning”,
    wanting to let this Forest be Its Own, when they tell
    Jenny she needs to “clear”, to be granted a permit to build, there is such resistance…HOW CAN THEY SAY THIS!!!!!….
    but they do It’s Butte County codes, specifically, and these codes seen through the lense of the Camp Fire of 2018
    Paradise…just so small a distance away…it could have gotten Here
    burned 153,336 acres. 85 deaths, 50,000 people displaced
    there is SO MUCH to know….How do we Live then?….It’s
    the HUGE question. How do we live? to sort through it all. What do we NEED. like NEED? What do the forests NEED?
    I went today to visit the Fallen Broken Trees, to sit with
    their Ending Time. I am full. of their Ending Time.
    I ask them to FILL me with Who They Are. and How it is
    They are falling.

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  18. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    it’s too much, what needs to happen, to even try to
    put here.

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  19. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    90 is GOOD. I can be really fine with 90….and really,
    hope it lasts for a long while. My beloved Summer. When you sweat but do not wilt.
    I am so grateful for them…that they have turned out to be
    who/what they are. so so grateful. and i can be me.

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  20. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    living alone is necessary for me. Being Alone..
    they are here for that. We live a very excellent balance
    the day today was Excellent. Goats Ran, as did Tay. We are Good.

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  21. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    i will wait to hear what you Learn
    Jenny is already figuring out how to bring the precariously balanced Tree down…
    they are called Widow Makers

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  22. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    i sleep. I think i could sleep through the end of the world

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  23. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    it’s all some kind of perfect timing.
    sit…breathe…think of those words
    it’s all some kind of perfect timing
    ???????
    ………….. it’s all some kind of perfect timing

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  24. Deb G Avatar
    Deb G

    A small amount just enough to add to a a basket of other materials… a community. That would be very nice. 🙂

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  25. Liz A Avatar
    Liz A

    from Braiding Sweetgrass … how the falling trees open the canopy, letting in sunlight for the young ones

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  26. Laura Avatar
    Laura

    So heavy, those widow-makers. It almost looks like there was an intense storm in that one little area. What gives? I was wondering what energy gave way, creating the downfall? A shift in something(s), somewhere-in or near the trees, that held up such a strong living being… There was no wind. The roots held. A history of drought. Heat. Heat causes expansion, energy, change. That was a prolonged and intense heat, with no let-ups at nighttime. And, then, a ‘sudden’ moderate drop in temperature, and not enough moisture in its veins, perhaps causing slight, uneven throughout the tree, microscopic shrinkage? Then fractures. IDK for sure.
    But I am really looking forward to receiving my tree book, made from a tree, and coming by way of fossil-fueled transport. The irony of this is not lost on me. My feeble excuse for not eBooking: I ordered the fancy illustrated edition for my daughter, my granddaughter, and me to share.

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  27. Faith Avatar
    Faith

    Oh my! Pine trees come down a lot around the highways here, but that’s in the rainy season when the ground becomes saturated. Apparently pines have shallow roots. I guess that would make them susceptible to drought as well. Dry soil on granite must be precarious for them.
    Four generations of strong women. Awesome!

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