07/30/2021
I had mentioned previously about being torn on making the decision to cut this 150 year old elm tree down. It was leaning hard toward the historic 1853 home. I finally pulled the trigger. But I had also decided to try to “leave something behind” in its place. This is the outcome of that effort. A pair of Angel wings.
Once Nick started the carving work, he realized this was an American Elm tree. A rare tree now days as most died in the 1930s do to a widespread disease of that period.
A few days into the project a couple more things appeared. As they often do at Daniels Peace Farm. In the lower middle of this, a heart shape appeared that I noticed early in. I ask Nick about that and he said - I didn’t plan that – it kinda happened by accident ! At this stage the work was crude, saw dust was all over. But once we started to cleans things up and oiled it down the next day , there was another thing that appeared. The vertical line in the heart became dark and obvious that wasn’t before. Looking a bit closer we then realized that dark line was tree bark. It was then we realized there was once two tree saplings that grown into one. There was a clear tree bark line showing this that appeared in this by accident heart shape!
During this process another problem area appeared, in the right upper wing. Nick and I discussed what we should / could do. In the end I decided that this to was meant to be. As it represents a open wound that is trying to heal. But the healing from this by the tree , clearly had not happened, and probably never would. This American elm survived alot of issues. This tree simply allowed scare tissue to cover up and hide its open wound as that’s all it could do.
A heart that started in two different trees – then became one, but hidden for 150+- years. And survived a tree epidemic that wiped out 90 % of its species. To be discovered this week by accident that even though it was clearly broken, it still had relevance.
The open wound also has the same symbolic meaning.
“Kintsukurio”: More beautiful for having been broken .
I thought this was worth sharing with you.
I hope you will share with your friends and family .
