Gifts of our Maple Tree

Preface to this post:

Hello again.  It has been four years since I've written anything for this blog.  Maybe it's because I've been busy doing, instead of talking about doing, or else I just haven't felt like documenting or writing.   Maybe it's a little bit of "running away with my tail between my legs" as a failing gardener.  It's a humbling endeavor, even in the midst of some great successes.  I've thought of erasing the previous posts and starting over, but I guess I won't in case they could be valuable.  I have documented plenty of my gardening and homesteading activities on my Instagram account, but I'm currently enjoying a break from that platform.  

Anyway I've had the itch to write recently.  If the itch continues, I'll likely update you on some garden improvements and additions in due time.  For me, writing is a nice way to process my thoughts, and that's my main motivation in doing it.  I'm not a great writer.  But hopefully my words are interesting and perhaps educational for others, in addition to helping me work through my thoughts.   

The actual post:

Gifts of our Maple Tree

I was recently listening to an interview of Dr. Zach Bush and he mentioned Charles Massy's book on regenerative agriculture as one of his favorite accounts of the earth's remarkable ability to heal.  I looked up Massy and checked out his book Call of The Reed Warbler from the local library.   I'm really enjoying the book.   It began with some history of the Aborigines, particularly their amazing way of living on the driest continent on earth for thousands of years without degrading the land.   

In the chapter he tells a story of when Aboriginal Ngarigo elder Ron Mason visited his farm.   Massy brought Mason to the last remaining of seven Kurrajong trees that once stood on the farm.   These Kurrajong trees were planted by Mason's ancestors outside their natural range.  They were very important food and fiber trees for his people.  Mason spent some time with the tree and the author describes the deep emotional experience Mason had in that moment.   

This inspiring account left me with a desire to have such relationships with my local plants and trees, and animals for that matter.  I contemplated the maple tree in our backyard and was really amazed at the generosity of the tree and I'd like to share my thoughts.  

Technical note:  

I've decided to use the pronoun "ki" when referring to this tree.  This comes from a chapter in Robin Wall Kimmerer's book Braiding Sweetgrass in which she discusses the problems of referring to plants as "it".  She came up with the pronouns "ki" and the plural "kin", "ki" relating to "chi" (life energy) and "kin" as in relatives.  Since reading that chapter I've had difficulty using "it" when talking about plants and have tried to avoid it if possible.  Now's my chance.  Apologies if it's distracting.  Braiding Sweetgrass is an excellent book.  I highly recommend reading it, especially if you have a thirst for American Indian culture and views.

The tree I'm writing about is a maple tree, a Crimson King Norway Maple.   Acer platanoides 'Crimson King' is the botanical name.  You've seen kin in the suburbs before - the maples with the dark maroon-colored leaves.   This one is about 40 feet tall with about a 25 foot spread and a trunk about 18 inches in diameter.    My guess is that ki was planted by the Joseph's (the previous owners of our house) sometime in the 1970s or 1980s but I really can't be sure - Crimson Kings don't get much taller than 40 feet.  Ki's leaves are not quite as purple as some I've seen - they're more of a deep dark green, although the new leaves in the Spring are bright red-purple.  Those new leaves are so wonderful to see emerge each Spring. 

Norway maples get hated on a lot around here as they spread by seed prolifically.  Some of my neighbors have Norway maple fences - saplings that didn't get weeded out of chainlink fences have grown into dense and tall barriers - perhaps desireable for some; local building codes limit fence height to 6 feet, but there's no height limit for Norway maples now is there?  We have a huge Norway maple growing out from under the neighbor's garage that does drop a lot of seed.  We would have a maple and black locust forest here if we didn't intervene.  I'm not sure if our Crimson King's seeds would grow true to type - the small saplings appear to have green leaves, like the regular Norway maples.  Either the seeds are not true to type or the saplings require some maturing before the leaves would be purple.  Some claim that Norway maples produce a chemical that inhibits the growth of other plants around them, similar to the Juglone of Black Walnut trees.  Some say that low growth around the maples is due to dense shade they cast.   I'm prone to believe the latter, noting that in our yard other plants seem to be doing fine unless they're directly shaded by the maples.  

I've often wished our Crimson King was a persimmon tree, or a chesnut, or some other kind of nut-bearing tree.   But upon contemplation inspired by the story I read in Call of the Reed Warbler, I've realized that the gifts ki provides are pretty remarkable.   This tree requires no imputs from us.  Zero.  All ki needed was to be planted and watered that first year, which was done long before we were here.  And now ki provides us with an abundance of gifts, some of which I will list below:

Shade - This maple is so well placed to provide shade to our house, chicken coop, and chicken run in the summer.  Leaves are dropped in the winter when we want the sun shining in to warm our spaces.  We can put our lawn chairs under ki and excape the direct summer sunshine while relaxing.  We’ve also grown mushrooms in the shade provided by ki.  Shade was the one gift that I recognized immediately when we moved here.  I can't believe how cool our house stays in the hot summer without air conditioning.  Could the dark-colored leaves absorb more heat or something?   I think most every house should have a large deciduous tree planted on the south side.  

Recreation - This maple supports a swing for our daughter Miya, which she loves.  Perhaps she’ll be climbing this tree someday.  

Fertility - The roots of this maple draw nutrients up from the subsoil and into the foliage, which is dropped each Autumn.   The leaves can decompose in place or wherever we want to move them.   The tree is literally a nutrient pump.  Also, Bill Mollison described how trees gather nutrients as dust on their branches and foliage and rain that falls through them picks up those nutrients.   If you collect rain water under the tree as we do - we have a rain barrel that collects the chicken coops roof runoff - you essentially collect fertilized water.  

Water - Bill Mollison also describes forests as oceans that follow the contour of the land, referring to how much water trees hold.  Perhaps our tree's thirsty roots keep our yard from flooding.  

Habitat - This maple provides habitat for birds, squirrels, insects, moss, lichens, and I don’t know who else.   

Building materials - The prunings of this maple provide small diameter branches which we’ve used for chicken roosts, small fences, trellises, and garden stakes.   Someday the tree could provide dimensional lumber, or live edge cuts, and wood chip mulch which is a soil-"building material".  

Beauty - As I mentioned before, the baby Spring leaves are remarkably beautiful.  Also the branching structure of trees are unique and beautiful.  Over the years I've come to appreciate the differences between the species.  Maples have opposite branching structure - one of the only tree genus's in our area to have this feature, which can help with identification in the wintertime.  Recently we had a small snowfall - one of the kinds with no wind in which the snow sticks to every branch.  Beautiful.  Have you ever noticed when just one leaf on a maple tree dangles and dances and waves in the wind?  Beautiful.  

I'm sure there are more gifts that this maple provides for us.  What I'd like to reiterate is how we do nothing for this tree and ki provides with all these gifts nonetheless.  I do spread wood chip mulch around ki, but I think ki would be just fine if I didn't do that.  It's quite a contrast with the coddling required by our tender annual vegetables and our fruit bearing trees.  I've realized how wonderful this tree is.  Thank you for all the gifts, Crimson King. 

Update January 8, 2021:

Karen Joseph DeCandia, who grew up in this house saw the Instagram post and told me that this tree was a Mother's Day gift from her to her mom around 1980, which makes ki all the more special.  How wonderful!  I was so happy to hear that.