Rambling through central Illinois, pondering the power of a trees whose thorns were used as nails by settlers.
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Seems I’ve had this tree planting thing all wrong. Instead of oaks, walnuts, persimmons, chestnuts, hazelnuts and sycamores – all the trees that animals love to eat – we should have gone with locusts. Those thorny rascals can have the perfect defense against the teeth of deer and rabbits, even against the digging habits of raccoons.
They are also fairly effective against chainsaws and humans. Last weekend was the culmination of five years of dreading a government-mandated locust slaughter. Locusts had taken over two locations on our farm and both had to be cleared to make room for “better” trees.
Yes, it sounds silly to cut down a tree so you can plant another tree, but there is some logic to it all. Not all trees are created equal and replacing some with others that are more beneficial to critters is part of the goal of the Conservation Reserve Program’s bottomland hardwood practice.
Not that any of that made much sense to me Saturday while standing chest-deep in honey locust branches while trying to cut down a tree without being skewered to death. Honey locusts are the ones whose thorns have thorns.
After felling 21 of the sticker trees, I began to empathize with pin cushions. I also pondered the value of body armor. The biggest honey locusts had branches that drooped nearly to the ground, which made working around them difficult. Plus, since several had multiple trunks, it was hard to be sure which way they wanted to fall – a problem exacerbated by the day’s 20-35 mph winds.
Stubbornness paid off, finally. The stumps all got a healthy drink of Tordon, to prevent future sprouts, and in a few weeks we will be planting persimmons, oaks, walnuts and other bottomland hardwoods – trees that the deer and rabbits will no doubt decimate, thereby leaving room for any remaining locust seeds to sprout and take over.
Sigh. Like so much in life: step forward, step back, step forward, step back. Still, you have to try.
So in 50 years, when some Lampe descendant revisits that same corner of Maquon Township to battle locusts, I will look down (or up) with a sympathetic smile.
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Time to catch up on folks with local ties who are faring well. Start with Jacob Brentz, a 6-foot-1 lefthanded pitcher who made his Major League debut with the Kansas City Royals on Saturday. His father, Steve Brentz, grew up in Farmington and his grandmother, Wilma, still lives in town. Unpaid correspondent Keith Dollar said Brentz’s grandpa, Bill, was well known in town as the big guy with the big sword in Shriner’s parades. … Speaking of Farmington sports success, how about Tom Wierzba’s coaching kids? Sons Ben and Rhett are both on the staff of women’s college hoops teams that made the NCAA tournament. Ben is an assistant at Mercer while Rhett is associate head coach at Indiana, which reached the Elite Eight before falling to Arizona. … Finally, Princeville native John Koller was named Fire Chief of the Year for 2020 by the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association. Koller run the Cornbelt Fire Protection District out of Mahomet.
Contact Jeff Lampe at (309) 231-6040 or jeff@wklypost.com
4-18-24
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