For the last 3 years, my husband and I have been getting free trees from https://www.neighborhoodchristmastreefarm.com/, Boulder, CO, the first weekend of June or the last weekend of May, some years, and planting them at our property.

We usually get about 15 seedlings. We have come to figure out how to do this. We have to dig a 4' hole, fill it with organic potting soil and then build a 5' box around each tree to keep it safe from the wind and cold. We also have to put chicken where around the tree to protect it from antelope.

This year, we discovered that you can get 6' tall fruit trees at Home Depot, after the season, which seems to be late June - early July, for $25 each and sometimes less. This still gives the trees 3.5 months to acclimate to their new homes before winter.

This year will be the last year we plant trees for a while because it takes 8 hours to water them. This is now my job in the summer - so that my husband can work on our home that we will move to eventually when he finally retires from his full-time job as a building inspector.

The first year that we did this, I started making Sigils for the trees to help get them through the winter. It was easy the first year, but in the 2 progressive years, my numbering system has been wildly off due to tree deaths, replacements, and where to place them... I never can quite get a good system down.

This year we added an apple to replace the Vine, we also found some wild roses out there that my husband decided to nurture - so we added those in, and we discovered the low-cost fruit trees. We got quite a few Red Delicious apples which his uncle says grow well out there. Not my favorite, but maybe they will be tastier than store bought...

In the Winter of 2023, Oya - an Oak Tree did not come back in the spring. The 2 Pine Trees, which we left out in the open, thinking they would be distasteful to the Antelope - were in fact eaten by the Antelope. And one Maple that we kept home all winter under the grow-lights, never made it out of the house.

In the Winter of 2024, we lost the Vine that we planted in 2022. This was a Japanese Spindle Vine that we noticed does well without much water in the city...it grows as a shrub / bush but also as a vine and of course is considered "invasive" because it's not native to Colorado but was brought here by well-meaners. One Hawthorn and one raspberry didn't make it.

This Spring, 2025, we replaced the dead ones with a Red Delicious Apple, which my husband said his uncle told him grows well out there. I am not a fan of Red Delicious - they are mealy in my opinion, but maybe the temperatures will make them good - otherwise they can feed the animals or we will make apple sauce, one day. This was when we discovered the reduced price trees at Home Depot, and we bought a lot of those... as well as getting our 12 + from the free tree giveaway...

I wanted to put the Sigils on the wall here at home so that we would be able to send our love energy to the trees. The weather at the property is brutal. It's at the end of a 3 mile dirt road, and the winter temps can easily get down to -40 degrees, the snow piles up, the wind can be 60 mpg.

Will we really live out there in our elder years? I hope so. I would rather live and die out there than contend with "man's law" here in the city, even if it means giving up all computer access.

Here is an accounting of all the trees we have planted, the one's that have died, with their names. Maybe this will work to keep track of them.

Each year, I have such a struggle, making the tree markers and keeping track of all the trees, so that I can add to the wall mural, so that we can pray for them in the winter.

Previous Posts

2025
Part 1 https://peakd.com/hive-186308/@in2itiveart/sigils-for-trees-2025

2024
Part 7 https://peakd.com/hive-186308/@in2itiveart/wall-mural-of-tree-sigils-2024
Part 6 https://peakd.com/hive-186308/@in2itiveart/sigil-for-a-kitten-named-qi-and-tree-sigils-installation-2-with-tree-map-on-property
Part 5 https://peakd.com/hive-186308/@in2itiveart/sigils-for-trees-part-7e-installation-1
Part 4 https://peakd.com/hive-186308/@in2itiveart/sigils-for-trees-2024-part-7d-painting-and-sealing-the-cement-cookies
Part 3: https://peakd.com/hive-186308/@in2itiveart/sigils-for-trees-2024-part-7c-making-sigils-out-of-portland-cement-paper-pulp-cement-clay
Part 2: https://peakd.com/hive-186308/@in2itiveart/sigils-for-the-trees-project-2024-part-7b-making-the-cement-and-previous-sigils
Part 1: https://peakd.com/hive-186308/@in2itiveart/sigils-for-the-trees-part-7-2024-creating-permanent-outdoor-sigils-that-will-last

2023
Part 6 https://peakd.com/hive-186308/@in2itiveart/prayer-sigils-for-trees-part-6
Part 5 https://peakd.com/hive-186308/@in2itiveart/prayer-sigils-for-trees-part-5
Part 4 https://peakd.com/hive-156509/@in2itiveart/prayer-sigils-for-trees-painting-part-4
Part 3 https://peakd.com/art/@in2itiveart/prayer-sigils-for-trees-part-3
Part 2 https://peakd.com/art/@in2itiveart/prayer-sigils-for-trees-part-2-tree-names-as-sigils
Part 1 https://peakd.com/naturalmedicine/@in2itiveart/prayer-sigils-for-trees-part-1

2022
Part 4 https://peakd.com/hive-156509/@in2itiveart/prayer-sigils-for-trees-painting-part-4
Part 3 https://peakd.com/art/@in2itiveart/prayer-sigils-for-trees-part-3
Part 2 https://peakd.com/art/@in2itiveart/prayer-sigils-for-trees-part-2-tree-names-as-sigils
Part 1 https://peakd.com/naturalmedicine/@in2itiveart/prayer-sigils-for-trees-part-1