Thinning out the woods

An apple tree immediately to the left of the spruce tree in the center of the frame.

And now the spruce tree and a Black Locust are gone.

I went out with the chainsaw this morning to open up the canopy around specimens I wish to favor.

My fingers got cold.  Yesterday's freezing rain locked up the mechanism on the back of our outdoor thermometer and faked me into thinking it was 30 F outside.  Wrong.

A photo looking up, into the canopy before cutting.

After cutting.  Clearly, the apple tree will get much more light than before the cutting.

Another before-after sequence.  Cutting Black Locust suckers that are over-topping a  small Chestnut planting.

The Chestnuts are the trees that are still holding their leaves.