Farewell to the Persimmon Tree

We were transplanting some citrus trees today and made a discovery in the yard.  One of our persimmon trees had a bad infestation of ants.  As we kicked at the ant pile in the tree, big chunks of the tree gave way exposing the fact that it was mostly rotten.

Not looking good for the tree, Dad.

This was one of the two persimmon trees in our yard.  They look like twins.  Actually, the persimmons they produce are small - about the size of a ping pong ball and they are full of seeds, but around October each year, they produce a huge crop of sweet fruit.  We pick them and painstakingly de-seed and freeze the fruit.  Tricia makes persimmon cake.  It is a family favorite.


Twin persimmon trees

You can see in the background in the photo above, my neighbor has grape vines that grow right east of the persimmon trees.  I don't want our tree to fall on his grapes, so we made the decision that the tree had to come down.  I went and got the axe and we got to work.  First me.


Paul Bunyon

Then Russ took a few swings.  Benjamin is the foreman of the operation.
 

Paul Bunyon Jr.

 The poor tree was in bad shape, so all it took was a few swings of the axe by the lumberjack,


Action shot of the woodsman

And a push to ensure it falls in the right direction and not onto my neighbor's grapes.  (We aren't licensed and bonded arborists.)  

Leaning...

And the poor old persimmon was coming down.


TIMBER!!!!

Mission accomplished.  It made a sound as it hit the ground.  By the way, if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it fall, does it make a sound?  Hmmmm...


Job well done, Paul Bunyon Jr.

So we began to "limb out" the tree.

Chopping the limbs off of the persimmon tree

Once the limbs were chopped off and the tree itself cut into four sections, we backed up Russ' pickup truck and loaded the tree into the bed.  We drove into the pasture and backed up next to the burn pile and unloaded it.  The old persimmon tree will add fuel to our bonfire that is scheduled for sometime later this month.