Life lived OUtside

You probably know that it is wise to do what mom asks you to do. No matter how old or young you are, when mom calls with something that needs to be done, you make time to do it. This applies doubly for grandmothers.

Some years back now, I think the girls were toddlers, but I can’t be sure of that, Grandma Kerby decided that she wanted an orange tree. And since at the time she was in her late 90s, it couldn’t be a tiny tree, it needed to be something that would give her fruit fast. So, Kim and I picked out a tree and made plans to get it to her house and plant it. It was a beautiful tree, already loaded with fruit, but it was kind of heavy and needed a deep hole to get it planted well.

As we were picking out the spot for the tree, trying to navigate between the shade cast by grandpa’s pecan trees, I saw grandma dragging an old plastic chair over to the spot. I asked what she was doing, and she told me she wanted to watch me plant it. So, as I dug a three-foot hole, she sat, not five feet away from me, giving pointers and watching my efforts. At some point, her chair was so close that it was almost in the backswing of my shovel! Didn’t seem to bother her, she was determined to feel like she was participating, and it was clear she planned to keep sitting right where she was. I got her tree planted and learned a few lessons along the way. Most importantly, let grandma do and sit where she wants to.

Even though it was years ago, I thought of that story this week, because this Saturday is our Growing Tropical Fruit Trees seminar. It could also be called the getting great harvests seminar, because no matter what kind of fruit trees you like to grow, we’ll talk about the basics of care from planting-time to general maintenance to keep all of your trees in top shape and get them to produce the best harvests possible. Come see us and find something tantalizing to add to your backyard orchard.