I feel as if I've cursed certain wild fruit trees in Middletown.
Shortly after I bragged about making pies and applesauce with some old variety apples, from trees on Wesleyan's Russell House property, the grounds department cut down the trees because they were "diseased" (in fact they were pushing out bushels of tasty, though not perfect, apples and I suspect they were cut down because the messy fruit drew squirrels and yellow jackets, and made walking through the yard a gooey challenge, and the trees were yet another obstacle for fast-moving lawn mowers).
Now, after blogging about making a mulberry cobbler with fruit from a tree in the rear of the St. John churchyard, I walked by the other morning to discover that the tree, and a neighboring maple, had been felled.
The good news is that after writing the last mulberry blog, more than one person told me about other trees in Middletown (I ain't breathing a word).
And I vow, that the fruit is now going to be a secret that only I and the tree will share.
Many old trees are being cut down all around Middletown with no plans to replace them. In most cases these are not diseased at all and could just do with a pruning of some of the branches. It is a shame to see such majestic trees being indiscriminately chopped without any efforts being made to try to save them. As I pass by the stumps and parts of the trunk, I can see there is no rot whatsoever. Is there anything that can be done to prevent this? I have called the town about this and was told these are old, failing trees.
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