Future and past life

The woods always provide images of hope and potential.  On a sunny afternoon recently (and we've had several in a row before snow later in the week), a look up the Berry Slope offered one such shot. Behind the line of baby birches, the bare area covered by snow will include lots of blackberries in about 6 months.  Expectations of fresh raspberries and blackberries fill winter thoughts here.  Several bags from last year are still in the freezer!

An excellent hardwood grove, perhaps 250 feet north of the first pic above, offers another example of how much future life already grows well here.

Future and past life exist in the same frame constantly.  In the middle of this photo, the large remaining trunk of a gigantic, long-gone paper birch provides a landing spot for some snow.  Young hardwoods circle the old stump, almost as if they are protecting the revered spot of such a spectacular tree.  Red oak, sugar maple, and white ash young ones are part of the security detail of the stump.

This a.m. brought the demise, via bowsaw, of an old red maple that had been dying back for years.  This will be firewood, eventually, but much work remains.  For now the tree gives way, creating some space for much young trees to get more sun.  Forest management always means getting rid of the old for the benefit of the new.