Since our Mom started work, she always joked with her bosses that she was a Druid and that she should have Arbor Day off as a holiday! Everyone always laughed. For our post this year, when creating the badge, Mom found out that Arbor Day is NOT a recent invention!
The Spanish village of MondoƱedo held the first documented arbor plantation festival in the world organized by its mayor in 1594. The place remains as Alameda de los Remedios and it is still planted with lime and horse-chestnut trees. A humble granite marker and a bronze plate recall the event. Additionally, the small Spanish village of Villanueva de la Sierra held the first modern Arbor Day, an initiative launched in 1805 by the local priest with the enthusiastic support of the entire population.
We will be planting a new tree this year, but it will not be on Arbor Day.
The BIG tree that shades the back yard needs to be replaced. He was not taken care of the way he should have been while Mom was working in Calgary and then Vancouver. Though he has had some of the branches that were breaking him apart the last couple of years, he is not as healthy as he could be. He has some splits and his big branches are making them worse. Several bad windstorms and heavy snow and ice this winter have opened the splits up even more.
Right now he is FULL of ground bees who are collecting nectar. In May we hope to plant a new tree further up the bank and to the right of where he is. Then next fall, we will get Larry K (he is a tree specialist) to come and cut him back. We are leaving the stump as it will help stabilize the river bank until the new tree gets larger.
Keep Being AWESOME!