Tree Planting Legacy

    Grandpa, Lars, purchased the right to complete homesteading on the Brookings Country farm where I was raised and began farming it in 1885. He planted a horseshoe shaped grove of trees around the farm yard.  There were trees on the north, west and south sides with only the east side left open.  The house was near the west tree line facing east toward the barn and granaries.  A huge cottonwood tree stood 25 yards north east of the house until recently and was often the site of our annual birthday picture.  The trunk was leaned a bit because horses rubbed on it while it was young.
   My father, Albert, continued planting trees.  He maintained a large orchard which was south of the house but inside the tree line but I don't know who did the original planting.  There were a variety of apple trees including two from which my mother made delicious apple jelly.  The pear tree produced pears but they were quite green and hard.  A couple kinds of plums completed the variety.
   After the dust bowl, dirty thirties, Dad also planted a shelter belt of trees on the south side of our quarter section of land.  I remember riding with him as he cultivated these trees in the early 40's. That shelter belt still stands as does the grove around the yard.  My brother, who succeeded Dad on the farm, continued the tradition by planting a row of ash trees on the terrace he constructed to prevent soil erosion.
  It has come naturally for me to continue the tradition by planting thousands of trees on our land.  A few years ago R. M. and I hand planted 700 bare root cedar trees in one day...don't think we'd do that much now.   I'm reminded of Martin Luther's statement "Even if I knew the world was going to end tomorrow I'd plant my apple tree today."

Some of the trees including some Ponderosa Pine are visible behind the house.