Reincarnation:
I was brought to IN as a seedling, from the homeland of Oklahoma, I was planted in a hedgerow as a living fence. I stood many seasons and since I was a female I bore the "brainfruit" that many wildlife fed upon, cattle also ate my fruit and sometimes died from choking on them. My seedlings sprouted all around the pasture as cattle grazed the other non-thorny trees leaving the mighty osage as a dominant competitor on grazed woodlots.
I was a mighty shade tree, branches spread and twisted and flowed like a river. One fall day a heavy wind toppled me to the ground, my heavy branches loaded with fruit and leaves, the weight above ground more than my roots... The farmer cut me in 7 foot sections, and drove me into the ground to stand tall with barbed wire connecting my many parts over the entire pasture.
The farm changed hands, the cattle removed and wire fencing rusted away. A man called blackhawk, removed some of the old twisted posts that were once my strong arms. He then scraped away the gray weathered skin and revealed the true beauty of my inner self. I am now loved and exercised by humans, no more cold winter nights. It's a bow's life!
