{"id":6415,"date":"2010-04-11T22:42:59","date_gmt":"2010-04-12T02:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/?p=6415"},"modified":"2011-09-11T23:28:49","modified_gmt":"2011-09-12T03:28:49","slug":"mighty-oaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/11\/mighty-oaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Mighty Oaks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Ryan's tree, planted in 1974<\/p><\/div>\n

Just like the saying, “Mighty oaks from little acorns grow,” Bob and I had an idea 36 years ago that has grown\u00c2\u00a0mightier\u00c2\u00a0than we ever imagined.<\/p>\n

Shortly after\u00c2\u00a0receiving confirmation that our son, Ryan, would be born in 7 months, we planted a tiny oak tree in what later became the goat yard.\u00c2\u00a0 The\u00c2\u00a0seedling was free from the Agricultural Extension Service and came in a 1 gallon pot.\u00c2\u00a0 We knew it would grow tall and strong, just as we\u00c2\u00a0prayed our son would.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0He did and so did the tree.<\/p>\n

Four years later, for all the\u00c2\u00a0same reasons,\u00c2\u00a0we planted another oak for our newborn daughter Rebecca. This tree planting had become a family tradition.<\/p>\n

When Ryan’s first child, Laurel, was born, we continued the custom, but with a new twist.\u00c2\u00a0 Long since in disuse, the goat yard had been reclaimed by Mother Nature.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Ryan’s 60′ oak had showered the ground with acorns, many of which had germinated into nice little saplings.\u00c2\u00a0 We dug one up an it became Laurel’s tree.\u00c2\u00a0 Coincidentally, it is a laurel oak.\u00c2\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Laurel, 2, with her tree, planted in 2004<\/p><\/div>\n

And so we continued, with Robert and most recently, Alastair.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0At planting, his tree is considerably smaller than his cousins’ had been, but ultimately it didn’t matter.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Rebecca, Alastair, Harvey and with Alastair's oak #1, 2009<\/p><\/div>\n

It was our intention to take a picture of the children on\u00c2\u00a0their birthdays, wearing the birthday outfit I had made.\u00c2\u00a0 But one thing and another got in the way so we just took the pictures as close to their birthdays as possible, wearing whatever.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Robert, 3, with his tree planted in 2005<\/p><\/div>\n

For Robert’s\u00c2\u00a0third birthday, one of his gifts was a raincoat.\u00c2\u00a0 He loved it and refused to take it off when it was picture taking time.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh well.<\/p>\n

The children take great pride in their trees, checking regularly on the size and comparing it to pictures of earlier birthdays.<\/p>\n

The story of Rebecca and Alastair’s trees\u00c2\u00a0differs greatly from Ryan’s, though they both, so far, have a happy ending.<\/p>\n

When\u00c2\u00a0Rebecca was about 8, a large pine fell on her tree, totally destroying it.\u00c2\u00a0 We replaced\u00c2\u00a0her OakR (for Rebecca)\u00c2\u00a0#1 with OakR #2 but a few years later a similar disaster occurred.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0OakR#2\u00c2\u00a0would never\u00c2\u00a0provide\u00c2\u00a0shade or\u00c2\u00a0acorns.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Rebecca's 3rd tree, thriving and almost stately<\/p><\/div>\n

Because Rebecca\u00c2\u00a0was so sad after her second tree died we planted two replacement trees, OakR #3 and OakR #4, just for a measure of insurance.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Rebecca, they both have thrived, but at the time of Alastair’s birth, we could find no obvious seedlings.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 So\u00c2\u00a0Alastair’s\u00c2\u00a0OakA #1\u00c2\u00a0was dug from under Ryan’s tree.<\/p>\n

Ironically, while mowing with his tractor, Bob overlooked\u00c2\u00a0 Alastair’s wee OakA#1 and cut it\u00c2\u00a0flat to the ground.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Then OakA #2\u00c2\u00a0was planted, but it just plain died.\u00c2\u00a0 So that’s two\u00c2\u00a0dead trees\u00c2\u00a0for Alastair, just like his mother.<\/p>\n

Recently, I found a nice little sapling for Alastair, growing in\u00c2\u00a0the plumbago hedge, a short distance from Rebecca’s OakR#4.\u00c2\u00a0 It has been designated OakA#3 and by virtue of its location will not be mowed down.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Having come from the “mother tree” and having chosen its own location, it is expect to grow tall and strong, just like Rebecca has and Alastair will.<\/p>\n

Rebecca’s next child will get a dogwood, or perhaps a pine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just like the saying, “Mighty oaks from little acorns grow,” Bob and I had an idea 36 years ago that has grown\u00c2\u00a0mightier\u00c2\u00a0than we ever imagined. Shortly after\u00c2\u00a0receiving confirmation that our son, Ryan, would be born in 7 months, we planted … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6415"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6415"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14165,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6415\/revisions\/14165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}