Longtime College Drive resident Marilyn Faber enjoys going outside each morning with her cat Henry to look out at her yard and to the neighbors on the winding street. 

Previously, a family of nuthatches had lived in the stump of a tree in her front yard, but this spring she decided she wanted a new tree to look at instead, so she applied with the Homesteader Roots program. 

Josh Pomeroy with Blue Ribbon Tree Service was up to the challenge, gathering together program volunteers and Powell Scouts to rip up the old stump — he said it was probably either a mountain ash or white birch — and replace it with a new harvest gold linden. 

“It’ll give you some fall collor, some yellow, instead of the drab brown like many trees around here,” he said. 

Faber, who stood outside to witness the process along with Henry, safely ensconced in a cat stroller, was thrilled.

“I’m so excited to have this — such a wonderful program Josh has,” she said. “This is so wonderful.”

Faber’s new linden — across the street from a Homesteader Roots tree planted last year — was one of three trees volunteers planted Saturday morning, bringing the total tally of program trees to 55. 

Approved applicants pay $75 and the organization covers the rest of the cost through donations to plant a large shade tree or smaller ornamental tree as a way to give more diversity to the trees in city limits. 

In the case of the first tree planted Saturday morning, it replaced an old stump — which Faber happily kept — with a new tree. 

“This is such a blessing,” Faber said. “It’s just going to enhance the whole yard.”

For more information on the program, email homesteaderroots@gmail.com.