Part 2 of Where Have All the Apples Gone

As part of the conversion from an apple orchard to a vineyard, the neighboring property has now been cleared of apple trees. The stumps of the trees were stacked in a pile and a very large chipper was used to reduced the pile to a considerable mound of wood chips.

Despite the bare ground, I thought that this mound rather beautiful. It lasted only a few days, as beautiful things seem to do, as the chips were spread around the perimeter of the property.

The neighboring apple orchard is being torn down. A team was out early Monday morning with chainsaws and chippers to cut down the Gravenstein apple trees. My guess is that the orchard will be replaced by a vineyard. The land changed hands about a year and a half ago and was to have been a home site. After a year, just as some work had started, a “for sale” sign went up and remained for about three months. Then the sign vanished. In short, I don’t know who owns the property or if it changed hands again. However, just a month ago, there was a crew pruning the apple trees.

All of the family is sad to see the trees cut down. It was unexpected and these trees were neighbors. Without them, the view changes quite dramatically — it’s more open and you can see the slope of the hill. Over time, we may get used to it, too.