I could see it as soon as I got up this morning. Even without my glasses. Don’t ask me why, but it’s just part of my daily routine. I look out the window.
To see if it rained.
Yep, the eroded little “stream bed” was puddled, the soot building up over the walking path, near the anemic blueberry bushes.
To see what else happened overnight.
Everything growing exponentially. Green everywhere. Except the berry bushes of course.
So much work to do. I can’t keep up with any of it.
And then of course I could see what had happened outside my window, plain as day.
As I’ve said, it’s almost to the point where I can tell you the story of every leaf on every plant.
I could tell right away.
Already depressed, I put my shoes on. It’s trash day. So I gathered the trash and begrudgingly walked around back, off into the area beyond my bedroom window.
The deer decimated them, eating virtually clear up to four or five feet really. There is so much to eat around the land, I was in denial that they would bother three little trees. I know there are fences, potions and tricks spun by old wives, but deep inside I’m cut from a different cloth.
One that likes to pretend the world isn’t a shitty place to live in.
The worst part really it’s strictly a function of my defiance and ingrained laziness.
I looked closely.
Out of fifty, yes 50, peaches only three were left.
One very large one, hidden high within a tree that only had one or two to start with.
One very small one, barely a bud, low and residing also in a tree that had but one or two fruits.
And one random medium-sized peach, on a tree that easily had over forty-five peaches on it. Mind you a tree not much larger than a bush really.
The trees will survive. There are enough leaves, higher up, on each. Just as the apple trees survived their deer trimming last year or the year before.
I’ll fence the peaches in later today. More money. More time. I’ll spray concoctions around them. I may even endure the random “I told you so” to add insult to injury. I deserve it.
I’ll even wonder if it’ll ever sink in that maybe the universe is trying to tell me something.
Telling me that everything I do is daft. That trying to be different is wrong. Normal people don’t do this sort of thing. They don’t plant fruit trees and actually expect to get fruit. They don’t fight ticks, raise bees, live vastly beyond their means. I need to learn. That I should get back in line, do as they say, do as everyone else does.
Follow the rules.
If I’m lucky everyone sticks around for thirty minutes instead of twenty at my wake. Then the universe can chime in “Next.”
I don’t know.
I hate to think that’s the case, but all the little things seem to point in that direction.
Maybe my saving grace is that I rarely if ever listen to anyone, the universe included. More often than not, to my detriment.
So I’ll live and learn.
I’ll put up little circles of wire.
And I’ll check on three little peaches every day for the rest of the season.
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Post script: I went out to Lowe’s for a work project, and I purchased a 4′ x 50′ roll of 2×4 wire, so I can now protect the peach trees. And I bought four brightly colored tomato hoops just because they made me smile. They’ll add some fun to our garden, and not everything has to be formal, contemporary and “matchy” around here. They cost like $6 apiece so they’re not cheap but I don’t care; they make me happy. 🙂
nine apple trees 