Trees

We’ve been talking for a few years about adding some more trees to our yard.  When Knut grew up here, there were many more trees that got destroyed in one fluke storm.  He’s always wanted to replace them since he was a little boy.  When about 2 years ago we lost a few of our apple trees to disease, it made the desire to replant that much greater.

This year Knut took one semi-rainy day that kept him out of the fields and he and Elias went tree shopping.  They picked up one new honey crisp apple tree, one new baking apple tree, and a large crab apple tree, as we love to make crab apple cider.  He also picked up a new elm tree for the front yard.  We call it “Ingrid’s tree.”  I’ll explain that later.

It’s been so busy here, that we decided to break our no-yard work on Sunday rule and plant all these bare root trees on Sunday.  We were all having so much fun it didn’t really feel like work.  Everyone pitched in, and it didn’t take long at all.

Some of the kids may have still been in our church clothes.  Since they were already grass stained, I figured we’d just go with it.  For some reason I love seeing my kids with dirt and grass stains.  It makes me feel like we’ve got this wholesome life going on.  I know that would horrify some mothers, but I’ll admit I like a bit of dirt going on.

The boys had to take frequent breaks to climb in our current apple trees.  We only have one small crab apple and one baking apple tree left.  The crab apple tree doesn’t produce enough to make cider-making that worthwhile, so I’m glad we’ll have another ready to produce in a few years.  David could live in trees, but Elias is still working on it.

Fortunately, he has a brother willing to help him out.

We planted the elm next to the maple in the front yard.  5 months ago, when Ingrid was born at home with our midwife, we had made some plans.  At a hospital birth, there are many decisions that are just made out of routine, and at home you have the responsibility of making all of those decisions, some you maybe never thought about.  One of those, was how do we dispose of the placenta, or the afterbirth?  This organ had been supporting Ingrid for 9 months, and it had to be gotten rid of somehow after she was born.  It’s not exactly something you just throw in the trash.

This may surprise you, but some women consume their placenta, as it’s said to have many anti-depressive properties to fight PPD.  Some encapsulate it and take placenta pills.  I know many women swear by them.  There are placenta encapsulation companies out there just like cord blood banks.  I had no desire to do that.  It just didn’t appeal to me.

Many families plant a tree over their placentas, because “they say” it is about the best tree food there is.  I don’t know if that’s legend, or fact, but apparently planting a tree over it gives that tree long life and strong roots.  Planting trees and placentas together is a real “thing.”

It reminded me how the Israelites were to pile up stones to remember God’s miracles.  Every time they passed a pile of stones, they told their children about what God had done.  How quickly we forget!

So we saved Ingrid’s placenta, with cord attached and everything, double-bagged in a Ziploc in the freezer.  The midwife labeled it well, thankfully!  We waited until the ground thawed and new trees would thrive.

We’ve crossed the line to “really weird” for many of you, haven’t we?

No, probably not.  As Knut would say, “That ship sailed long ago.”  The kids thought we were really weird, so they were playing on the playground as Knut and I reminisced.

I know that some readers may be squeamish about this so I’m not showing pictures, but we thought it was so fun!  As Knut dug, we relived that day, and relived that miracle.  We were in awe over this part of creation and how God is a God of these details.  Every vein had a purpose, every part had a job.  We marveled how he makes placentas work the way they do.  I’m not sure if it was considered part of her or part of me.  We wondered if it was her blood or mine.  It really is quite amazing if you stop and think about it.  We gave praise for His creation by giving Ingrid’s placenta to this elm tree.  Whenever we see this tree, I’m sure we will be reminded of her birth, and what a joy she is.  It’s her tree.