Tuesday, October 13, 2015

A 16 year old photo that foreshadowed my future

Who knew that I would still be here in 16 years-- still admiring fruit trees on the same property. It's almost as if this 16 year old photo foreshadowed my future.
If I recall correctly, this is a picture of me at the age of nine. I am standing beside a white blossoming Plum tree. It must have been a warm spring day. Here I am enjoying the scent of the plum blossoms, and admiring all the blooming fruit trees in our yard.
At one point, my family had several plum trees, pears, cherry trees, peaches, grape vines, and maybe other fruiting plants growing in the yard. These old fruit trees are gone now because my family cut them all down (several years after this photo was taken), in an effort to level the ground and put a house in the backyard. This never happened, and instead all of the fruit trees were cut down in vain. The ones that remain are a Peach tree and an Apple tree that are probably 30+ years old. They still fruit, of course, but I am not sure they have much life left.


And looking forward into the future, 16 years later, I am growing fruit trees on the same property. Where the ground was leveled and intended for a house, I am growing a big garden. On the property, I have 2 plums, 2 pears, 3 figs, 2 peaches, 2 nectarines, 1 cherry, and 20 pawpaw trees with additional berry bushes, grape vines, walnuts, and a hundred hickory trees. I continue to add fruit trees and fruiting bushes every spring and summer. My intention is to grow a beautiful food forest that feeds me, my family, friends, the animals, and others in need.

3 comments:

  1. It's a bit blurry. I want to see what you looked like.

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    Replies
    1. I don't have a scanner, so I took a picture of the original.

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    2. That's a shame.
      I like that you have added a further reading section. This blog is becoming such a comprehensive resource for vegan agrarians. I would like to recommend the following books:

      NON-FICTION
      Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
      Emile, or On Education, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
      Industrial Society and its Future, by Ted Kaczynski
      Impeachment of Man, by Savitri Devi

      FICTION
      Julie, or the New Heloise, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
      Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell

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