a beautiful poison.

We once had this enormous cherry tree behind our barn.  Mid summer we would set up ladders and climb high above the tall pasture grass collecting buckets of cherries.  One day during our kitchen remodel a ferocious storm blew the giant tree down and it damaged the corner of our barn.  We hired some really shady individuals to come and cut it up.  I was disappointed about the tree and the loss of pies and I never wanted those tree guys to come back on my property ever…again… ever.

Much to my joy one day we came across another cherry tree …how had we not seen it before!  This cherry tree not as big, was probably the daughter of the massive one that had fallen.  We didn’t need as many ladders for this one as it was right next to the pasture and the kids and I could stand on the fence and pick our fill.  Then one day we had a tornado-esque storm and part of the cherry tree fell into the street…and some into our pasture…. I woke up  from the howling winds and cracking trees and looked at my husband, “Please don’t hire those scary tree guys… what about that nice Daniel Hazelwood  who we met last night… he was looking for work.  Ask him if he can run a chainsaw.”  Daniel came over the next day and lo and behold he had worked a ranch  in Texas in the years leading up to his move here , and yes of course he could use a chainsaw.  And if you have been reading Aseedinspired for very long.. you know a very important friendship was formed. I can remember when Daniel was cutting down the split cherry tree and he asked me about the nearby mulberry trees, “Oh I wrote a song about angels on the mulberry trees a while ago.”  I had corrected him, “No Daniel , you should write it about cherry trees… not mulberrys they are just weed trees.”  And with that he cut down the cherry tree the rest of the way and it miracleously didn’t fall in the road..which of course Daniel assured me , with a wink and huge laugh, was because of angels on nearby mulberry trees guiding it.  I don’t think his mulberry tree song is on his latest album , Witness in the Sky.

Now all along I was planting a few cherry trees…. beautiful weeping cherry trees.  You have seen them in  my pictures, in fact, that is why I planted them.  I tended these trees so that one day I would have a lovely family picture under the  arch of their branches.  I imagined our big family, that I am so proud of, would gather in the future with all those beautiful pink blossoms blanketing the ground and us right there in the center of a lovely pink halo.    I told Daniel this when he was here that first time… because one of the trees, I had planted, had toppled over and he had to stake it to a fence post which became really inconvenient for us all to walk around.

But I was willing to be inconvenienced.  I was willing to put up with all these shenanigans… I wanted a certain look.

No matter how many times He tried to rid my life of these things…. I tried to salvage what I could.. plant a new one, stake another one better, prune it back.

The things were annoying other than their yearly display.

I thought I wanted them around.  They were beautiful.

Where both of the big trees had been … poison ivy sprung up.

Yesterday I went out to find a very disoriented Benita.  Ears drooping… she barely knew what to do when I called her.  She had spent the last two days in my back yard eating my lawn, next to the weeping cherry trees.   They poisoned her.  But thank you Jesus and all of heaven… green leaves are only a bit poisonous. Finding out like this is a huge blessing.

This autumn they will be lethal.

In the fall they will create a toxin.

When the leaves wilt they contain cyanide.

The moment the purpose of these trees is complete… they become deadly.

When the fruit is gone … everything that comes off these trees can kill …even in very small dosages.

He has been ridding my property of these trees for years.  He knew my dream was coming.  He had knocked down the mother and daughter tree… and there I was; planting a few more.

So the last of these trees are coming out.

 And , for the record, they aren’t welcome back….ever.  They were only pretty for a brief season anyway.

What I have now is pretty wonderful all year long… through all seasons.

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