Peter "Treeman" Jenkins

Nut Shakers and Movers

           Now is the time for the tree climbing nut shakers and movers to step forward and help feed this hungry planet. It’s a time to be green or be gone. Crank up the nerve, you tree climbing heroes, and climb upwards to rain down the fruits of the tree before the marauding rodents get there first.

           It takes a strong body and a nimble mind to manually shake down a feast of pecan nuts. Jenny Meadows, my blog editor extraordinaire, used to do the deed while her family waited below with bags a-ready. She was the only one that had the tree climbing skills, even if they did not involve ropes, saddles, and such.  She would climb the tree and shake a branch vigorously with her feet while she held on with her arms. Not only is this an example of tree climbing prowess but also a knowledge of timing.

 

Nuts don’t fall any old time. The green ones you see on the ground were cut by grey squirrels during the day and flying squirrels in the dark. There is a certain time when they drop the easiest but you have to get to them before the rodents haul them off to be consumed or buried in a cache.

 

There are some modern improvements in pecan harvesting. Now they have mechanical tree shakers. They literally shake the tree to bring the nuts down. This technique works best on smaller orchard-grown trees.

 

I used to do the heroic “guy on rope” technique and go up while suspended by my tree climbing gear. I would haul up my pole saw and shake the branches if I couldn’t reach them, while my man below moved the “catch sheet” on the ground. I only worked select trees that had heavy crops of large nuts. They were growing near residences and the owners were happy to get the “tree trash” hauled off. A falling pecan makes a heck of a racket when it hits a roof. They also ding automobile bodies if the nuts are of large size.

 

What do you do with all of those nuts? I gave some of them away. They were certainly appreciated gifts to the connoisseurs of fine nut meats. My crew ate a lot of them. Not only did it give them good nutrition but it gave their busy hands something to do. But mostly I ate them myself.

 

Pecan nuts are naturally wholesome foods. They have good protein and large amounts of oils which are great for energy. They seem to stick to the ribs when consumed. It’s the kind of food that tree climbers long for and are proud to crack and shuck in public.

          

Task-oriented Tree Climbing

           I’m a recovering task-oriented tree climber. For 25 years I went up into a tree and “did” something. I was a working arborist. For me tree climbing had a mission, be it cutting out a dead branch, pruning defective parts, removing hazardous trees, or the occasional cat rescue. There was a job to be done and I was there to do it.

            Some of the jobs were hair-raising. Storm-damaged trees standing by themselves were the worst. You were never sure they would remain standing when you went up into them to take them down in pieces. We weren’t using cranes in the old days like they do now. I would literally crank up the sound track of Mission Impossible as I put my gear on and made life-threatening decisions with luck as a wild card. I was younger then and the “can do” mentality actually pulled me through what is now the nation’s most dangerous profession.

 

The point is that I had something to do. There was a problem to be solved. I had a mission that needed to be completed and a team of guys that I trusted to help get me safely there.

 

Tree climbing for the sake of tree climbing is a big shift for me. I now know why it is hard for a professional tree climber to get their mind wrapped around the concept of climbing trees for the sake of climbing trees. The urge to “do something” and be productive is almost overpowering. When I started Tree Climbers International it was in conjunction with my arborist business.

 

TCI was actually funded by my arborist business, so I had a constant “fix” of doing something in the trees while I taught folks to go up and just relax. It’s really a paradox. Now I find myself mimicking my tree climbing students as they find that comfortable spot and just chill out for a few luscious moments and watch the world pass below them.

No Dropped Call from the Treetops

One of the reasons I climb trees is to get away. For me there are a lot of things to get away from and tree climbing gives me a place to escape, if even for a short period of time. The ringing telephone is one thing I try to get away from. 

 

The very nature of phones, be they land lines or cellular, is invasive in that it calls us to react and communicate on demand. I know you can mute most phones and you can also rely on voice mail to pick up. But watch yourself the next time a call comes in on your portable and see if you do not instinctively reach for the phone. I usually don’t mute my cellular, because it creates a gripping fear I will forget to un-mute it when I have come down to earth after finding some peace up in the treetops.  That fear alone, of forgetting to re-plug into the communication grid, can take away from my tree climbing adventure.

 

I would like to report that I have overcome that obstacle to my tree climbing enjoyment but that would be a lie, or, more gently put, a dream. I carry my Blackberry up with me in anticipation that I might need to communicate in an emergency. I’ve never personally needed to make a call because of “my emergency,” as I have yet to be injured while tree climbing. But that call might be about someone else’s emergency, in which case I would probably want to respond.

           It’s a bit ironic that the higher I climb in trees, the better the reception I get. A few years ago I did some tree climbing in Sequoia in California. I was climbing out in the middle of nowhere, with no relay towers or towns for miles. I pulled out my little phone and called my girl, who is now my wife, to give her a report. To my surprise the call went through immediately and I was able to describe the sunset and paint a picture of what I was experiencing while 250 feet up.

          I’m getting better with my phone while climbing trees. I don’t grab as frantically for the device as I once did. I do however sneak a peek at the number and see if a voice mail is in the box when I find a good resting place. I don’t call back unless it’s my wife. I’m more deliberate with my phone handling too. I know that if I lose my grip I will suffer the consequences of a reality-based dropped call.

A Fall Tree Climbing Hazard

           Leaves often create a coat on the forest floor before they are wetted by rain, devoured by other forms of life, and recycled back into the ground. They provide a multi-colored carpet for tree climbers on their way to an adventure. Do you remember kicking at leaf drifts? Leaf accumulations are fun to play with but they can hide things as well, just like a layer of snow.

            Last week I was adventuring in a wild area and reveling in the fall weather. The winds were cool on my face and leaves drifted down in a lazy fashion, as if unwilling to depart from their parent tree. I saw a mound of leaves and could not resist the urge to kick the pile and send colorful leaves once again sailing in the wind.

            Kicking the leaf pile proved to be a bad decision. A tree stump lay hidden below the natural layer of mulch. The leaves had piled up against the wind break and just begged to be scattered by a swift kick of my foot.

            The pain was intense for a few moments. I waited and looked around to see if anyone had seen me. I was alone in the woods. I wiggled my toes and in a few moments the pain receded. A 4-inch diameter stump seemed to smile at me near my feet.         

            I’ll try to be more careful the next time I get near a leaf mound. Maybe an exploratory nudge with my foot might serve as a good practice before I put my full weight behind the swing. But I’m not sure a calculated and researched kick will provide me the same quality of joy like a spontaneous swift swing of the foot.

Natural Fall Branch Breakage

           Some tree species naturally shed large branches in the fall. Tree climbers need to know this because it could turn a good tree climbing day into a disaster. Why do branches break? Here are some reasons.

            Many seed-bearing trees ripen their fruits in the fall. In the South the most common fruit- (or nut-) bearing trees are oak, pecan, walnut, and sweet gum. Fall is when the tree is at its heaviest. There is a lot of weight dangling off those branches. Rainwater adds to a branch’s weight significantly for a brief period of time.

            Some wood is stronger than others. Oak and walnut branches rarely break under the load of the fruits. Walnut trees drop their leaves early which decrease their weight. Oak trees are very strong, and even heavy acorn crops don’t seem to matter to the tree. Sweet gum and pecan trees are a different matter.

            Both sweet gum and pecan trees are considered hardwoods. But their wood is brittle. This makes them prone to snapping off the tree unpredictably when they bear a heavy crop (mast) of seeds. The heavy bearing season usually occurs in a three-year cycle but trees can also bear a heavier crop if they feel stressed, like with drought. It is a self-propagation strategy. 

            How do you know if you are entering dangerous territory? Here are some things to look out for before you decide to go tree climbing in the Fall:

·        Considerable amounts of fruit on the ground. If it is a heavy bearing season it will be hard to get close to your tree without falling over if the fruits are on top of hard pavement. It will be like walking over a layer of ball bearings. If you aren’t careful you’ll end up on your butt with the sound of carabiners clanking.

·        Broken branches lying on the ground. These branches will be fresh with leaves and large amounts of fruits attached. If there are branches on the ground there could easily be more of them aloft.

·        Broken branches in the tree. You might see them if the leaves are brown but if they are fresh breaks they will be hard to spot with their green leaves still attached. This is especially true if it is a split branch still attached to the tree. They can remain green for much longer periods of time because they are still alive.

What can a tree climber do if you must ascend that particular tree with fruit a-plenty?

·        Hang your rope close to the trunk. You will add significant shear force the farther out on a branch you place your rope. It’s a leverage issue.

·        Use your hearing sense. A branch will make loud cracking sounds as it starts to break. Be prepared to retreat quickly or move to a safer spot away from the breaking branch.

·        Know which trees in your area have brittle wood and are prone to breaking. Look for broken branches and make note of what species it is. Look for a pattern of occurrence.

 

 

I’ve never had a branch break on me but I’ve seen plenty of Fall season branch breaks. Pay attention to your instincts and be observant before tree climbing. Enjoy this special season before the cold winds move in.

Blindfold Tree Climbing in Fall

You can accentuate your senses by taking one away. When a sense is eliminated, even temporarily, other senses are magnified to compensate for the loss. Tree climbers can remove the sense of sight with a blindfold. A blindfold opens up a whole new arena of awareness where sound and touch are intensified.

            Tim “Tengu” Kovar is a master of this technique. He calls it “tree time.” A tree is selected by a climber and pre-rigged with a climbing rope with all knots tied. The tree climber leaves but later re-approaches their climbing tree blindfolded while led by the leader. The climber then clips in and ascends the tree, still blindfolded. Touch is accentuated as time slows significantly. The climb now takes on a spiritual quality uncommon in most tree climbing experiences.

            Another technique is to take the blindfold up with you during leaf drop. When you arrive at your destination, don the blindfold and listen to the leaves fall!  If you listen long enough, you can identify some of the leaves falling. The larger leaves have a much different tone than the smaller leaves. You’ll hear other natural sounds you might not have noticed.

            Fall is when many trees produce seeds. Oaks have acorns of varying sizes. Walnuts and pecans have huge nuts. You’ll hear them drop and hit leaf litter on the ground. They sometimes even add the extra tonal sound event of bouncing off a branch on the way down, which produces yet another unique sound heard from the treetops.

            Enter another world by sense deprivation. You’ll be intrigued and add significantly to your listening skills. It’s funny how we often take our senses for granted. Find another world by taking a sense away.

Is That Branch Alive or Dead?

          Tree climbers need to know whether a branch is alive or dead. When leaves are falling, tree climbing gets a little tricky. Your favorite climbing branch might now be bare while the rest of the tree is leafy. Is the branch dead? Climbing around on dead branches is bad form and downright dangerous. Here are some things you can do to get a better reading on a branch’s health:

•       Do you see any fungus on the branch? Fungi sometimes appear as discolorations or obvious mushroom-like growths. They are sure indications of branch mortality or disease. Don’t get confused by lichen, which is harmless to trees.

•        Do you see bark? Missing bark is another strong indication of mortality. Bark is the tree’s skin. It should be uniform in appearance.

•        Are there twigs? A dead branch sheds twigs first. The absence of twigs is a strong indication of a dead branch. Avoid the branch entirely if there are no twigs present.

•        Are there buds at the ends of the twigs? You might need binoculars to see closer up. Compare bud size to other branches on the tree or an adjacent tree of the same species. If the buds died earlier in the season, they will be smaller in size.

 

          It’s easy to get fooled in the Fall if you see a tree in full leaf but one or two branches devoid of foliage. They clearly stand out as dead branches but turn out to be healthy when you climb up to them and bend a twig and find it full of life. Hey! A tree needs to start the task of leaf drop somewhere! Some branches have minds of their own.