old field · twenty-eight years · last picked 1998
twelve trees set in three rows, each tree a different variety, none of them ones you could buy from a catalogue any more. there was a ladder. there were trays. someone walked between the trees every august with a knife in their pocket for the test slice.
now: half the trees still bear, but the fruit is small and bitter and falls into long grass. wasps work the windfall in september. mistletoe has come up where it was not invited.
a hedge that was kept down is now a hedge. the lane between the rows is closed by it. the deer have learnt the place and use it.
field-note: under one tree, every year, more apples on the ground than the tree could have grown that summer. there is something old about the soil under that tree.
cabin · apple tree · garden · leaf · naturans