I wonder if the people who had the over-laden apple trees and left the crop to fall and rot on the ground are worrying about their food budget this year. I don't know how many wild and cultivated (and neglected) apple trees were left untouched in my area last year. I stopped at one place where the lawn (aka wasted green space) was literally blanketed with fallen apples. I asked if I could take them and was rudely run off! It galls. This year, there is a real scarcity of fruit - tree fruit. I have two old, decrepit apple trees that had lots of fruit last year. Yesterday, I searched the branches and came up with two tiny apples. How long will people continue to stand, helplessly, and cry about the cost of food when they can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and grow some? Harumph. And the people who gave up after one attempt at gardening? If you think that was hard, try stretching your dollar to cover even more food price increases. There's freedom in providing your own food - it ain't easy, especially this year, but it beats the pants off the alternative.
This weekend as I bid Sylvie 'Bon Voyage' - off to the start of her new life in Maine (with very mixed emotions), I was given to some nostalgic ruminations on the people who have touched my life over the (many) years. There were the Youngbloods, the elderly farming couple who introduced me to chickens, Clydesdales and hummingbirds, Duncan, the sculptor who inspired me to be an artist and taught me how to accept criticism without tears, Mort, with his photogenic mind and amazing sense of fun, Rip, for the magnitude of his generosity and spirit, and it goes on and on and on. And let's not forget the waiter in the Madrid restaurant who, when he thought the chair on which I was sitting was too high, slid a little cushion under my feet. And I wasn't even the one leaving the tip!
13 comments:
I don't feel I can comment on the first half of your post without getting negative about how very lazy, uncaring, and stoopid(!) people can be. Well, I guess I managed to get negative anyway, didn't I?
I hope Sylvia finds time to start blogging again soon. I know with the big move she's had little time for that, but I've missed her postings.
Gosh, you've made me think about an elderly farm couple we met very early after we were married and the stories I remember them telling us. I should pull those recollections together into a post for my blog. (Love your musings! You have a very fertile mind.)
I'm so glad I went over-board LAST year on putting up strawberries and applesauce, because there is NONE this year. But, I still have lots of goodies in the freezer. People waste so much. It's terribly sad.
And, pray tell, how does one learn to accept criticism without feeling bad????? THAT I would love to know........
A waiter that puts a little pillow under your feet?! How awesome is that!!
Being around some of the poorer areas in our county, there aren't many fallen or wasted fruits around here as many people will ask to pick them up. But there are still many, MANY more yards that could use a fruit tree or two instead of non-edible shrubs and trees. I can't believe that more people don't see the benefit of having edible landscaping.
To what extent are apples biennials around you? I've got a friend from the dog park who worked for the USDA and know such things that unless they are judiciously pruned, apple trees are naturally biennial.
I liked how you put your thoughts regarding people that move away. It's good to stay open to meeting people who enrich our lives, even if they don't stay.
Why on earth would anyone run you off for offering to take obviously unwanted fruit off their hands (and lawn)?? How stupid is that!
In general I find that most people are much more interested in complaining than in doing anything about what it is that is bothering them!
I've been trying to tame my yard in preparation for planing more edible offerings next year and I have gained a whole new respect for farmers as a result!
:::Sigh::: your first part makes me sad. There is farm land being turned into developments, and golf courses. I've spoken with older farmers who have farm land and their kids want nothing to do with farming, and they don't know what to do with the land. I think hello!!! I'm standing right here/!! Sell us the land, we'll farm it, but they are more interested in selling it and making gobs of money and turning it into more developed land. So frustrating for first generation farmers like ourselves trying so hard to pave the road for our children, who have the desire for farming.
My 2 fruit trees are light on fruit this year, probably from the city spraying herbicide on the easement next to our house :( Thanks guys. It's sad how much fruit gets wasted by people, as you said. Maybe guerilla tactics are in order? Not suggesting that of course :)
Mama Pea - I know; it just gets one's dander up, doesn't it? And the headlines are starting already - grocery prices climbing. I hope Sylvie keeps up with her blogging. How are we to know what kind of magical life she's come into without it? Oh - please, please, please! post about them!
Sue - Yes, it's literally feast or famine in gardening anymore. It's sad how much waste there is in this country. Well, in all honesty, I still can tear up if the criticism is sharp.
CR - I know, that is something that will happen once in a lifetime if at all. There is a lot of poverty in our area, too. Yet they spend money on cigarettes and lottery tickets - they don't even think about using the natural resources around them. I guess it's learned behaviour.
Linda - I don't know. I would assume that my old trees could very easily fall into that category. I'll have to do some research. Being basically shy, it's difficult to fill the void left by a good friend moving away. But it will happen eventually.
Jenyfer - Pure meanness, I think. Some people just cannot share. And I agree - it's way too easy to sit and complain. I tend to tune them out. You have your hands full with that yard, but you've made amazing progress! I am a firm believer in an edible landscape. Lawns are just a waste of good food space.
Seeing all the wasted fruit laying on the ground was one of the biggest shocks to us when we first moved here. So many fruits grow well here (blackberries grow wild AND abundant), there really is no excuse for hunger. But so many people can't cook without a can opener - or can't cook at all!
Goodness gracious, wasted fruit...and then you were run off for asking to use what wasn't apparently being put to use? Some people. GRRR!!
Good musings today! I can't abide waste and it would break my heart to see people leaving fruit on the trees to rot.
there is definitely going to be a food shortage this year that will be felt for awhile, get this one: my friend went out to pick her peaches 2 weeks ago to find that someone had taken ALL of them during the night! Every stinking one, she said she had counted about 76 the day before. Booby traps, I say!
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