What to do With a Pulled Out Stump

"What do I do with a tree stump in my front yard?", I asked myself. While digging out the slope outside my front door in order to have a small, flat front yard we removed a large ohia tree. The stump came out easily enough after removing the slope, but now what? Without the use of a backhoe, skid steer, or equivalent we weren't going to be able to move the buggah. Oh, did I mention that we removed the slope by hand? No heavy equipment. Just two people, shovels, and o-o bars. Plus determination and a lot of luck that we didn't hit solid lava.

Tree stump in place. I just planted a couple of flowers and added some gourds temporarily for decoration.

The initial idea was to leave it in place until we could borrow the equipment or con some neighbor into moving it for us. The weeks dragged on. One day while studying the stump, I tried to come up with an idea of how to get it out of the way. Dragging it down the driveway with the truck would ruin the driveway. It took too long to get the driveway in good condition to have it ruined in one hour. So what else? The roots had grown around lava chunks, so using a chainsaw was out. Burning it up in a fire was out. No open fires allowed due to drought. Digging a hole to bury it wasn't even a thought because digging that big of a hole around here is impossible by hand. Too much lava rock and going that deep meant we would most likely hit blue rock (solid, very hard lava).


My whimsical heart took over. Ya know, if I propped it up upside down, I could sit a birdbath on it. So with the help of two strong fellas, a base hole was dug and they rolled and wrangled the stump in place, then tipped it up with the trunk skidding into the base hole. A little concrete and rock set it solidly in place. Excess roots were trimmed. Rocks were removed where possible. The stump was left with a concave bowl -- a natural birdbath shape. A little concrete finished off the bowl. When I added water, it proved to be watertight. Wow!

Looking down on the little mini-pond, the home of two very fat guppies. 

The stump is now yard art. I planted a couple of flowers on it. Added two guppies and some plants making it a mini-pond. Now it helps control mosquitos.