Today I noticed…. How green my yard is in the summer. In the winter, it seems like we have various shades of brown and gray. Even the grass looses its luster, and the clover disappears. No one tells you that clover will disappear over the winter when they encourage you to plant it as a grass alternative. But, it does. It’s beautiful in the spring. Dies in the summer. Makes a comeback in the fall. And, disappears again in the winter. I wish a lot of green or alternative people would be honest with the pitfalls and discouragements that come with what they want you to do. I know, we have learned the hard way so many times. It’s very frustrating. We blamed ourselves many times when things went wrong, but sometimes, at any rate, I don’t think it was our fault
But, the green. There are so many shades of green in the yard. Shades of green. A great title for a poem. The grass, the trees, the bushes. Even, the weeds contribute to the overall ambience of the greenness. This year we have nectarines on the front tree. The kids planted the tree back in 2013 or 2012 from peach pits that we got from Skinnell’s Orchards. When J was born there was a straight stick coming out of the ground. I let it go. You know, newborn and curiosity. The following spring the little stick got leaves. I compared those leaves to every tree in the yard and couldn’t figure out what it matched. Then, I looked at the peach trees. It was a perfect match. And, now we have a two-story tall nectarine tree right outside our front window. It’s beautiful. The birds love it. And, it is covered in nectarines. Which, were green, but are now turning ever so slightly pink and red. It’s pretty exciting. We’ve had fruit trees for years, but I think we’ve gotten four peaches and two apples from the ten trees that we have. Kind of disappointing. But, even if half of these nectarines rot or are eaten by bugs we should actually get some to eat. I wonder if they are any good?