The beauty that God started with a seedling, a tree of magnificent beauty, we live in the best place in the world. The colours around us are so awesome in the spring, summer, fall and winter.
The trees look after us, those who settled this country, first shelter, and then heat, for excellence of the hand of God.
As a child growing up, trees were always there in my life, under the maples feeding the calves, milk in the pail with your fingers for them to suck on. Later as a tomboy I loved to climb in them; as a young bride, I was working amongst the 1,700 trees we got from Indian Head.
Planted all around our home for shelter from the elements. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. In 2011, a devastating golf ball hailstorm struck our farm; the hail killed 500 trees. Over the next few years they grew tall, up to 60-foot plus giants came to be dangerous as the branches broke off. I had Don Van Meir come to the farm to top off many trees. I was scared of one crashing down on my home. Many of the trees I asked for the bottom six to 10 feet to remain standing.
I truly believe things happen for a reason. I had a dream and on Sept. 21, by 9 a.m. a gentleman from Rimbey, Alta., came to our farm near Manor to honour my request to carve a lasting memorial of our family’s life on the farm.
Darren Jones arrived with chainsaws in hand and the pictures that accompany this is the start of his working gift that God gave him, a skill that brings a tree, though dead, alive with a story of a family dream of life on the farm.
To watch the craftsmanship develop before my eyes was a wonder in itself on Sept. 25. The trees were no longer just deadwood; they were a work of art that tells a story for all time. The family life on the farm, a work that never ends.
