I so enjoyed this post, especially on the second read through when I took time to click on your links. The charts and descriptions of the differences between fruits and vegetables were so informative. Yet your writing about trees was what got me recalling a rush of childhood memories. From the weeping willow in my Aunt Suzanne's yard that reminded me of a huge wig and the plum tree my cousins and I would climb and eat plums to our hearts content, to the mini orchard surrounding my grandparents old farm house. There were apple, cherry and two varieties of pear that my grandma would enter in the County Fair in hopes of a winner's ribbon. I also remember her propping a clear glass bottle on a branch to enclose a blossom and watch a pear grow inside it. Not to be forgotten is the treehouse my father built up high in our backyard elm tree, complete with a trapdoor in the floor boards. Hurray for trees! They are like dear old friends never to be forgotten.
Thanks for clicking all the links, Mom! And for sharing your tree memories. I remember the pear tree best-- maybe I should put a jar around one of the pear blossoms in honor of Great-Grandma.
I loved this post! I appreciated your insights about orchard trees and plantings, plus you inspired me to try something new with mushrooms! And your piece about loving trees...well, I'm a kindred spirit and tree climber from way back. Thank you Erin for this lovely read!
Thanks, Susan, I'm happy you enjoyed it! I love finding kindred spirits, and so glad we give each other support and inspiration. I think I might miss climbing trees the most from childhood; the world seemed different from that vantage. I'd say it was a pleasure matched by lying in the grass looking at clouds, but I didn't leave that behind in childhood.
Oh, yes—what a pleasure to be nestled up in a tree, a soft breeze rustling the leaves surrounding you… I gave up tree climbing at 12 because I thought I was too old for it. Now I climb up on our roof for maintenance! But it’s not the same 😊
I'm encouraged seeing someone else doing something similar to what I'm trying to do on my own little property. We have a few fruit trees started, but we definitely want to add more in the future including pawpaws!
I loved reading this as it echoes our own experience and I know yours will be an amazing success.
We inherited an orchard of 28 apple and pear trees in 1988 and over the years, a number have died because of drought. So we nurtured what we had left through 3 years of La Nina rains and I opted to turn the empty places into a mini-arboretum. We planted olive, silver birch, oak, flowering gum, magnolia grandiflora, Chinese elm, variegated pittosperum, lillypilly, almonds, walnut and I still want to plant a ginko. The whole is hedged by a large clipped pittosperum and we have a grand 70 year old weeping willow on one side.
If it all lives and the 11 fruit trees survive, we'll consider ourselves to be so lucky and will be glad to have done our tiny bit for the environment.
Thank you, Prue! Your story is amazing, and your mini arboretum sounds magical. I had to look up half the plants you mentioned, since I'm ignorant about Australian flora. Do you eat the lillypilly berries?
You give me plant envy! I've always wanted to grow mushrooms but I live in zone 9-10. I look forward to seeing all the good things from your yard!
Thank you! I have length of growing season envy now, though!
I so enjoyed this post, especially on the second read through when I took time to click on your links. The charts and descriptions of the differences between fruits and vegetables were so informative. Yet your writing about trees was what got me recalling a rush of childhood memories. From the weeping willow in my Aunt Suzanne's yard that reminded me of a huge wig and the plum tree my cousins and I would climb and eat plums to our hearts content, to the mini orchard surrounding my grandparents old farm house. There were apple, cherry and two varieties of pear that my grandma would enter in the County Fair in hopes of a winner's ribbon. I also remember her propping a clear glass bottle on a branch to enclose a blossom and watch a pear grow inside it. Not to be forgotten is the treehouse my father built up high in our backyard elm tree, complete with a trapdoor in the floor boards. Hurray for trees! They are like dear old friends never to be forgotten.
Thanks for clicking all the links, Mom! And for sharing your tree memories. I remember the pear tree best-- maybe I should put a jar around one of the pear blossoms in honor of Great-Grandma.
I loved this post! I appreciated your insights about orchard trees and plantings, plus you inspired me to try something new with mushrooms! And your piece about loving trees...well, I'm a kindred spirit and tree climber from way back. Thank you Erin for this lovely read!
Thanks, Susan, I'm happy you enjoyed it! I love finding kindred spirits, and so glad we give each other support and inspiration. I think I might miss climbing trees the most from childhood; the world seemed different from that vantage. I'd say it was a pleasure matched by lying in the grass looking at clouds, but I didn't leave that behind in childhood.
Oh, yes—what a pleasure to be nestled up in a tree, a soft breeze rustling the leaves surrounding you… I gave up tree climbing at 12 because I thought I was too old for it. Now I climb up on our roof for maintenance! But it’s not the same 😊
You're right-- it's sadly not the same!
I'm encouraged seeing someone else doing something similar to what I'm trying to do on my own little property. We have a few fruit trees started, but we definitely want to add more in the future including pawpaws!
That's awesome! A very hobbit-y endeavor.
I loved reading this as it echoes our own experience and I know yours will be an amazing success.
We inherited an orchard of 28 apple and pear trees in 1988 and over the years, a number have died because of drought. So we nurtured what we had left through 3 years of La Nina rains and I opted to turn the empty places into a mini-arboretum. We planted olive, silver birch, oak, flowering gum, magnolia grandiflora, Chinese elm, variegated pittosperum, lillypilly, almonds, walnut and I still want to plant a ginko. The whole is hedged by a large clipped pittosperum and we have a grand 70 year old weeping willow on one side.
If it all lives and the 11 fruit trees survive, we'll consider ourselves to be so lucky and will be glad to have done our tiny bit for the environment.
Thank you, Prue! Your story is amazing, and your mini arboretum sounds magical. I had to look up half the plants you mentioned, since I'm ignorant about Australian flora. Do you eat the lillypilly berries?
I think it's what we call a bush food - that is native food that we are beginning to learn about from First Nation people.
You can also use the berries and make jams and jellies, although I never have. Must try it!