Alan E Butzbach Artist & Musician

Inspired by a tree on my property.

I wanted to recount and experience of planting a tree on my property in Sloansville, NY, initially thought to be a chestnut but later identified as a sawtooth oak. After nurturing it for five years without any chestnut harvest, I appreciated the tree’s beauty and vibrant fall colors, ultimately reflecting on the journey with creativity.

The story behind this tree was that I sent to a nursery to purchase some chestnut seedlings trees to plant. I received a half dozen seedlings and nurtured them in small pots for about a year to get them a head start before I planted them on my property. 6 were planted and only 1 survived. Being a novice to chestnut trees and what was needed to make them grow and produce chestnuts, I watched this tree grow for 5 years. At some point, I figured that I would miraculously get a harvest of chestnuts. After the fifth year in which I thought I would get some chestnuts, I researched and found out these facts about chestnut trees. First, you need more than 1 tree to cross-pollinate, Second, was that the tree I thought was chestnut was in fact turned out to be a saw-tooth oak tree, obviously, that was the biggest factor in not getting chestnuts! It’s a beautiful tree that turns bright yellow gold in the fall and has a great shape to it.

I took some leaves off of the tree this fall to do this piece of art.

Let me know what you think?