David and I had spent the morning pressing cider (we make hard cider every fall), and we were undecided as to how to spend the afternoon. A few days before, my neighbor had given me a box of 12 gauge shot gun shells, so I thought that we should head up to the woods to use them on this broom.
It is in a Picea engelmannii- the Engelmann Spruce. One year, a few years back, I found several brooms or unusual trees of this species. This one is located in the cascade mountains, a stone's throw from where I found Taxus brevifolia 'Guthrie'. In fact, I would not have found this broom if I hadn't been exploring the extensive thickets of Taxus in the area. There is an over-story of mature Douglas fir, western larch, and western hemlock trees. There were a few Engelmann spruce and Pacific silver fir mixed in as well.
You can't see this broom from the road. In fact, it is hard to see even when you are close to it, because the canopy is so dense. I had David go out to the tree and hide behind it while I shot the broom. That way he would be close enough to see where the pieces landed. I had to be about 30 yards away to get a clear shot at it. I shot it repeatedly, but I was only able to get two small twigs to come down. One of those twigs was too damaged to use, so I only have one grafted up! I really hope it takes. If it doesn't, I will be climbing that tree next year.
Sometimes, I'm tempted to just cut down the tree to get the broom. I think you'd have to be an asshole to do something like that, though. Plus, if the grafts didn't take, I wouldn't be able to try grafting it again in the future. So I'm stuck with my shotgun and my tree-climbing gear.
