Axel Christian Boilesen

Axel's Grove

By Axel Boilesen, 1983

It all started in April of 1976 with a letter to John Prasch, Superintendent of Lincoln Public Schools, requesting approval of a plan to plant 200 three-year old Austrian Pine seedlings.

This was a Cub Scout project with Betty Boilesen and Sandra Dingman as den mothers. Included in the group of cub scouts were Jim Boilesen, Tom Dingman, John Katz, Mike Forsberg, Mick Black and Venu Chivukula.

The trees had already been ordered when approval was received from the Board of Education. The plan as carried out consisted of planting two rows with a spacing of trees two meters each way along the east edge of the Eastridge School playground. The set back was 4 meters from the east property line power poles.

The summer of 1976 was hot and dry. We purchased several used hoes and the school furnished a key to their outside faucet. Jim and I attempted to water as far as the hoses would reach with moderate success. The heavy clay surface had inch wide cracks. Wood chips were dumped in piles and we hauled and spread them around the trees to conserve moisture and reduce the weed growth.

On two succeeding years we ordered more trees for replantings and since about 1981 they have not required any watering or weeding.

The school maintenance crews have been helpful in their mowing and there have never been any instances of vandalism (except for two small fires).

Children would come over when I was working with the trees and ask what I was doing. I would explain that some day there would be a nice grove of large pines and how we could all enjoy their beauty. The reply was usually "that will be nice."

I often thought, during the process of starting those trees, of the similarity to the growth of those children.

The soil and water can be compared to the homelife conditions. The hard lumps of clay had the nutrients but these nutrients were not always released and made readily available to the plants. Likewise, it is evident that there is a wide variability of diets, warmth, and loving attention made available to feed the body, mind and spirit. Each individual has its own environmental conditions.

The plants themselves also have their distinctive characteristics. The shapes, form and colors of each are so similar but still so different. Some have suffered damage, even disfigurement, but as years go by have their own special beauty. Growth patterns are also highly variable, with some it is a slow start, and may experience dramatic changes in the space of a few yeras. All are not created equal but unbelieveable personalities often come from even the more serious handicaps.

The final picture also contains many similarities between the trees and our growth. Some are lost or destroyed by natural hazards - the waters of life just did not reach them in time, the physical defects were too great, the disease could not be controlled, or the warlike forces took its tool before full maturity. What is left is a grove or mass constantly changing but yet having a stability and beauty. The composite is what we judge but we are all fully aware of the fact that each plant (person) has a significant role or impact on the final picture.

I have taken the liberty to call this "Axel's Grove" out of a sense of pride and joy. Each day we are a part of the "important groves of living" and we can make a difference.

The real privileges go far beyond the planting of a few trees but as an example it will do!

 

 

 

Axel's Grove, 2017

 

 

The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.

Chinese proverb

 

 

The fall of a leaf is a whisper to the living.

Russian proverb

 

 

He who plants trees loves others besides himself.

Anonymous

 

 

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

Warren Buffett

 

 

A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

 

 

 

The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all, our most pleasing responsibility.

Wendell Berry