The Life of a Pecan Tree (growing, trees, lightning, leaves)

[walkin2e]

So, I just fertilized my pecan trees, and was thinking of them and came up with this little ode:

The Life of a Pecan Tree

Pecan trees are constantly shedding their branches
You will find them growing on farms and ranches
The wind blows softly through their delicate leaves
Picking up pecans is like bringing in the sheaves

I am blessed to have some majestic old pecan trees
I have gathered pecans while crawling on my knees
The unknown tree planter had faith that they would grow
His patient hands tenderly planted them, row after row

After many years of waiting his patience came to fruit
The young trees had matured and deeply taken root
Strong winds and rains have sometimes beat the trees
The hole in one created a hive for some homeless bees

Several of my old trees have given up the ghost and died
Lightning struck one of them and I watched as it was fried
I replaced the tree with a little one and hope that it will bear
A tasty crop of pecans that I can eat as I sit in my easy chair

As I reflect on the birth and death of the stately pecan tree
I can see God's providence in it as it relates to you and me
Our journey of life on this earth includes the storms and rain
We can not escape the fact that life has both joy and pain

March 2, 2010 Irvin L. Rozier aka walkin2e

[Dusty Rhodes]

A friend of mine, dairy farmer, has a Pecan tree in front of his barn that is over 100 years old, it is huge, can easily park a half dozen vehicles in its' shade and produces prodigious amounts of the best Pecans I have ever eaten. The story goes that shortly after it sprouted, less than a foot tall, it was eaten by a mule, the next year the roots sent up a shoot and that is the tree you see now. It is a persistent, over-achieving tree. One other little thing, in both Georgia and S. Carolina where a lot of Pecan Trees grow, the proper pronunciation of the word is "PEA-can". Any other is considered pretentious. It is not an English word, it comes from the Cherokee.

[JQ Public]

There is no need to fertilize a pecan tree by the way. The main thing they need is a steady amount of water. If there is a lot of rain one year they will put on a lot of grow (almost too much) so that the branches are almost weighed down by all the growth. Sometimes they'll drop the branches/leaves then, but they can also drop them when there isn't enough water too.

Nice ode.

[Speleothem]

Yeah, they like to shed branches.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Hummmmm, there is a woodcarver in these parts his favorite wood to carve is either Ash or Pecan.