Greek Walnut tree in Serbia

Description

Walnut grows the fastest in Shumadija than all other parts of the Balkans. Back in 1928, when my grandfather Pavle moved from the hamlet of Bodljik to the hamlet of Saranovo - Polje to make a house for his family, he planted an orchard of apples, plums and pears next to the house. The house was finished in the 1930s, and that year my grandfather Pavle, grandmother Katarina, grandfather's mother Stanica and their three children, Rajna, Jela and my father Ljubisa, finally moved. That spring of 1931, Grandma Stanica personally planted a walnut seed from a walnut seed that was already in the village of Branik and which her husband Milovan brought seeds from the war front from Thessaloniki. The walnut grew quickly and after 3 years the grandmother Stanica called her grandson Ljubisa and told him to partially dig up the walnut root. When he did that, his grandmother told him to cut off the centre of the root and put a brick under the cross-section so that that part of the root would not grow again. That procedure was done so the plant would create a branched root and an even more branched crown. They piled the soil back to the root and the walnut continued to grow in width more than in height. His crown was strong, the root certainly, and he began to give good yield. Just when the walnut was in good condition, grandmother Stanica died in 1949. In the same year, her great-granddaughter Milica was born, and six years after her, on the same day of writing this text, her brother Milovan. That period is 15 years of walnut life, and Milovan starts a new period of growth together with walnuts and in his 12th year with his cousin Milos he built a walnut house where they played all summer and where they smoked stolen cigarettes from grandfather Pavle . Walnut was then 27 years old and grew into one of the largest walnuts in Sumadija. Milovan loved that nut very much and he would not destroy it in any way.
Another 52 years have passed since then, so the story now looks different. The walnut is now 90 years old. The boy who played on it in the tree house turned 65 today. They are both quite old. The walnut has become a brittle tree over the years, and its branches are braking under the wind, which once could not harm it. There is a danger that it will split in two, and in one part damage the barn, and in the other part the old house in which the old Milovan now lives.
The walnut tree must be cut, however, just as everything comes to an end for everyone. It would be nice if someone turned it into furniture, veneer or some kind of woodcut and thus extended its life, with others it can hardly be that way.
- I didn't tell you! Walnut in the yard has two offspring of their own who give us walnuts and have 30+ years each.
04/July/2021
Milovan Stevanovic (born in 1956)
Saranovo-Polje 34215 Djurdjevo
Municipality of Raca
Republic of Serbia