Eric got the chain all sharpened up for a full day's worth of "The War on the Pines". We were able to completely remove the last of the pines from around the greenhouse gardens. I could fairly hear the sighs of relief from the oaks who will now be able to get all the sun they need to develop into "well-rounded" trees. I have become less and less merciful to the pines. I used to actually feel bad when we cut them down, but now, seeing how much better, how much fuller the oaks become, I am committed to reclaiming the woodlands for the oaks. Afterall, it IS Oak Hill!

This weekend we will start the daunting task of cutting the pines in the playground area. We would love to get that project completed this summer as four of the grandchildren are playground experts now, challenging themselves on the most scary of apparatus. We have elected to leave a few of the pines and most all of the oaks. There are some pines in this area which measure a good 15" in diameter which is comparable to the pines we left for the hostas in the center of the field, so I am thinking they were part of the first generation pines which would be roughly 50 years old as Grandpa Bartlett would have stopped farming the land in the late 50's or very early 60's, having died in 1963.