These are the Norway Spruce trees around the trailer.

This is a pine tree along the driveway.

These are the birch trees by the front gate.

And this is a spruce tree in the orchard.

Unfortunately they needs to go as they are all hazardous trees.  We have had one spruce tree fall on our trailer, another spruce branch pierce the trailer roof, and a spruce tree fell on our house.  The final straw was on Easter when the birch tree fell on our produce stand, took out our power and closed our road.  In that last storm we were scared that these trees would fall on members of our family.  I was time to deal with them.

We believe that they were all planted by the previous owner, but they all have grown tremendously and have developed scary leans.  It is sad for me to see them go.  They are beautiful trees that provide green color, shade, privacy and bird habitat.  But we can’t put up with more destruction and danger.  So they had to go.

Yesterday the process started with the pine tree on the driveway.  I was at work, but the tree company we hired brought a chipper and a crew.  The pine was brought down in sections, and the branches chipped up.  All that remains is the non-functioning light post.

Then the attention went to the spruce in the orchard.  The only casualty was an Asian Pear tree nearby, but the bee hive was saved.

Next was the spruce right next to the trailer.  Apparently it swayed a lot after the upper section was cut off.  The climber had to hold on tight, but he apparently enjoyed it.

Next were the two spruces between the trailer and the barn.  Please excuse the language in the video.  Apparently there was quite a bit of it.

They had a winch they used to pull the branches to the chipper.

They ran out of time so will be back Tuesday to fell one more of the spruce trees and the birches.

When I came home from work this morning, the view from the driveway was quite different without the pine tree.

The rounds of pine wood were a lot larger than I thought they would be.

There is a lot more sky visible above the trailer.

There are two piles of chipped wood.  This is the larger one is about 4 feet tall.  It sure smells great.

Here are the spruce logs waiting for splitting.  They are also a lot bigger than I thought.

Here is the bee hive in the orchard without the large spruce tree behind it.

One thing I liked about the spruce is that it gave shade and some weather protection to the hive.  But now the apple and pear trees will have to do their best.  Again the rounds are bigger than I thought they would be.

And here is the stump of the Asian pear, the only damage from felling these trees in tight quarters.

There is already a lot more sunshine in our backyard for the tomatoes.  There will be more after the last spruce is removed.

I am nervous that the house will be a lot hotter this summer without their shade.  We will be renting a splitter after Tuesday to split a lot of rounds into firewood.  We will have plenty of that for the future.