When I moved into this version of Bedlam Farm, I made myself a promise.

I would buy and plant a tree every year that I am here so that Maria and the people who follow me to live on this farm will have shade and a ring of green around the old farmhouse.

I didn’t grasp the imminent onrush of global warming, it’s made me feel even stronger about trees, the people who come after me will need them more than ever. If you drive around the farms  year, you will usually see giant maple and oak trees towering in a  beautiful ring around the old farmhouses.

The first farmers were very conscious of their moral obligations to improve the land, nurture the soil and plant trees for their successors. It is a matter of  honor for me to do that, and Maria has fully embraced the idea.

I am older than she is, and  hope she will get to see the trees we have planted grow and widen. We planted three maple trees on the front lawn when we moved in, and they are thriving, shielding us for privacy, to soften the road of the trucks in summer and providing shade.

The future residents will appreciate them, as we appreciate the thoughtfulness of those who came before us.

Beyond the maples, we have planted eight trees along the South side of the house, front and in the side, mostly big and beautiful white birches. Today, we went to the Mettowee Nursery and we got two new trees, brown Paper Burch’s on sale for $160 each.

These were the last two small trees at the nursery, we got there just in time. Maria is out digging the holes right now, I can’t really do that kind of work any longer, especially when I pull a muscle in back, as I recently did.

So I swallow my manly pride and take pleasure in doing the watering. i put down the mulch and shovel the soil back off of the grass. And I water.

So two new trees to Bedlam Farm, I have kept my promise for another year. I will do so until I can’t do it anymore. I love thinking of people sitting in the shade, of having this beautiful old farmhouse enveloped in a circle of green, just like the old farmers wanted.

And I love keeping my promise, to the farmhouse, to Mother Earth. Planting a tree is always a sacred thing.