Hi Folks,This will be Shady Pond's first season without a paper brochure. Be sure to forward this one to friends and family members who may enjoy reading it.
Work on this e-brochure begins on the first noticeably cool evening this fall. A temperature in the 50's created just the right mood. This is especially true in light of the incredible heat this past summer, not to mention the lack of rain. I hope and pray that we are experiencing just an extreme climatic cycle and not the dreaded global warming predicted for so long. Even though I have spent a lifetime in the pursuit of science and engineering, I am still not sure which is the case in truth; scarey, isn't it.
Global warming or not, Christmas is here once again. Of that we can all be sure. The trees are beautiful, and BIGGER. And we hope to see each of you again this year.
Merry Christmas,
Shady Pond Tree Farm
Christmas Tree Varieties:a stately beauty from England. a unique tree from the Orient. a selection from New Zealand. the aroma of lemon and mint. |
|
From the beginning the Christmas trees at Shady Pond had to share their fields with 6-pecans. These old trees were huge and their exact age was unknown. But evidence unearthed during plowing indicated that they were part of the original home site on the property dating back to a time prior to Norma Wallace's ownership which began in 1926. My best guess is that they had achieved centurial status. Katrina destroyed all but two of the old trees.
Two of the four pecans that were lost produced paper shell pecans. The nuts were rather elongated and looked like miniature versions of the Hindenburg (1930's German dirigible). As their name implies, the shells were really easy to crack. This was a good thing since not much effort would be wasted getting to the nearly worthless meat inside. The most valuable thing they produced was shade. Although I considered removing them on numerous occasions, I was never able to come to a final decision regarding their fate. Katrina encountered no such dilemma and disposed of them without hesitation.
The remaining two lost in August 2005 were good trees and produced pecans on a regular basis. The nuts were of a more traditional shape, more like the Goodyear blimp than the Hindenburg; short and fat. You had to work at getting inside these pecans and the effort was well worth it.
Family members and guests would arrive at Shady Pond on Thanksgiving Day with their various contributions to the meal packed in grocery bags, the brown paper kind. The bags contained casseroles, covered dishes, desserts, and other culinary goodies. Once the food was unloaded, the bags were carefully folded and laid aside for later use. After the meal had ended, small groups of like-minded folks would retrieve their bags and head to the old pecan trees. Since most had eaten to excess, the trees closest to the house were the most popular. The bags were full by mid afternoon.
The pecan collecting tradition at Shady Pond has been continued by many of you in recent years.
In the weeks that followed Katrina, the upper sections of the downed pecans were removed and transported to the burn piles to join the hundreds of other lost trees. As in all other cases, the height of the stump that remained was determined by the point at which the trunk diameter exceeded twice the chain saw bar length, or about 40-inches. And as with all the uprooted trees, the trunks were righted with an excavator so the root mass would refill its own crater. The trunks of these two pecans stood 14-feet in height.
Late this past summer during a controlled burn one of these stumps caught fire. After only 5-hours, it had collapsed. And within 24-hours it was totally consumed. It burned above the ground and below the ground to the point where its former existence had vanished.
What an insult it must have been for this old tree that had touched so many lives for so many decades to find itself totally and completely incinerated by a measly grass fire; how sad.
For the first time since Katrina the fields at Shady Pond are ready to receive new trees. With the abundance of storm related chores that lingered into 2006, planting had to be postponed.
Understand, getting ready to plant is no small task. Clay and Iron peas are sown in late spring and allowed to grow all summer. Then in mid-August the field is cut, fire lanes are plowed, and it is burned once the vegetation is sufficiently dry. Soil adjuvants are added based on nutrient and pH recommendations made by our soil laboratory in Memphis. As the soil is turned during plowing, the ash and fertilizer are mixed deep.
Disks are used to break the clods that remain after the first pass with the plows. Then the field is plowed a second time but in the opposite direction. This pass is followed by the second disk run and then the field is sub-soiled or ripped. The sub-soiler is a single point implement that penetrates to a depth of about 20-inches. The tillage element is a flat shoe 2-inches wide and about 6-inches long. Its inclination deep in the soil causes the ground above to heave upward fracturing the zone below the plowing depth. In agricultural terms that zone is called the 'plow pan' or 'hard pan'. Sub-soiling enhances water movement both up and down in the soil, and aids root development. Sub-soiling is the final high draft pass through the field.
The surface of the field is smoothed by multiple passes with the disks and harrow. But in truth, it is the rain that levels the field. The cut produce by the harrow is confined to the upper 2-inches of the soil and keeps the surface loose enough to be moved by the falling rain.
Once the field is sufficiently smooth and flat, it is allowed the settle and re-compact. During this phase the weight of the soil along with wetting and drying cycles displaces entrained air. The end result is a 'root friendly' environment.
Planting is done in the mid-January to mid-February time period. A specially designed machine is used at Shady Pond. It plants trees at a rate of 500-trees/hour.
You will be able to visit the lifestyle of an earlier time this season at Shady Pond by riding in Ed Tillison's hitch wagon pulled by Bill and Clinton, and sometimes Scotty. Bill and Clinton are Belgian draft horses weighing 2000 and 2200-pounds, respectively. And Scotty is Ed's little Clydesdale that tips the scale at a mere 1800-pounds. The two Belgians are 18-hands at the shoulder, or about 6-feet.
Ed promises not to name one of his horses Hillary, at least not during Bill or Clinton's lifetime.
The hitch wagon can accommodate about 25-passengers. And Tillison Carriages will provide conveyance from the fields to the sales building for a nominal fare between noon and 5:00 P.M. on weekends. Property wide tours are available on a scheduled basis and are priced on request.
Ed is a native of Pearl River and after completing a stint as running back for the Detroit Lions returned home to begin a heavy hauling and bobcat business called Tillison Trucking. And as with many of us, Tillison Carriages had its genesis in the lessons of youth. Ed helped his father prepare and maintain family vegetable gardens using horse drawn plows and cultivators. This experience led to a lifelong association with these wonderful animals that helped to build our nation. Ed's trucks and horses have one feature in common; size. Both are whoppers.
How lucky we are to have folks like Ed Tillison among us who are willing to make the investment to keep the past alive.
As part of our transition away from the paper brochure, the Electronic Guest List will be launched this season. The new system will address several issues. Many of you ask about your listing and in the past there was no way to verify its accuracy. The e-Guest List will allow you to do so. Clearly, the problems associated with illegible or incomplete entries will nolonger be a concern. And, there is even a field provided for you to record personal notes. The 'Personal Notes' field will be included as part of your personalized e-brochure next year. So, be sure to include all the appropriate tree purchasing reminders.
The new e-Guest List will be loaded on a laptop computer and located in the sales building in the spot previously occupied by the old paper guest list. Just enter your e-mail address and click the 'Search' button, and your current data will appear. Correct your entry as needed, and click 'Save', and it's done. If your entry is correct as shown, then 'Clear Form' is the button to use. Note that without your e-mail address, no one else will be able to access your contact information.
I wrote the program that drives the e-Guest List in Visual Basic. And since my confidence in my own programming skill is somewhat limited, the paper guest list will be available at all times should a crash occur.
If you are uncomfortable interacting with computers, there will be lots of help available. Just ask one of the workers to give you a hand.
Clarke