Winter has finally arrived in Southern California and this lime seems to know it. Our orchard went through a long, hot summer. The citrus trees planted last November haven’t grown a whole lot and I doubt we’ll harvest much fruit this year. That doesn’t mean there is anything wrong. The trees are just directing their energy to growing roots and settling deep into their new home.
So we wait. By next year, there will be more of everything – branches, leaves, buds and fruit. In a few years, we’ll start talking seriously about what to do with all the lemons, limes and grapefruit bending trees’ branches. Like children, they’ll morph from childhood to adulthood in no time and we’ll marvel at how they have grown.
Like children, the patience and care we lavish on the orchard now will yield mature trees capable of providing an annual bounty of fruit. Conversely, neglect will result in a tree able only to sustain itself, not anyone else. There are many parallels to planting a garden and raising children and in fact, gardeners often talk in language recognizable to parents. What conditions plants “like” or “don’t like” or how a plant has found a good “home” somewhere in the yard. Garden’s are “put to bed” in the fall and on hot summer days wilting plants are given “a good soaking”. With careful attention, great gardeners guide plants toward healthy fruitful lives.
To grow anything, whether it’s apples or children, takes patience and steady effort. It’s not always easy, yet nature knows no other way. How perfect it was to plant an orchard at Odyssey — a school where children journey from season to season, from first planting to steady growth with close care and daily attention. Imagine that harvest.
So we wait. By next year, there will be more of everything – branches, leaves, buds and fruit. In a few years, we’ll start talking seriously about what to do with all the lemons, limes and grapefruit bending trees’ branches. Like children, they’ll morph from childhood to adulthood in no time and we’ll marvel at how they have grown.
Like children, the patience and care we lavish on the orchard now will yield mature trees capable of providing an annual bounty of fruit. Conversely, neglect will result in a tree able only to sustain itself, not anyone else. There are many parallels to planting a garden and raising children and in fact, gardeners often talk in language recognizable to parents. What conditions plants “like” or “don’t like” or how a plant has found a good “home” somewhere in the yard. Garden’s are “put to bed” in the fall and on hot summer days wilting plants are given “a good soaking”. With careful attention, great gardeners guide plants toward healthy fruitful lives.
To grow anything, whether it’s apples or children, takes patience and steady effort. It’s not always easy, yet nature knows no other way. How perfect it was to plant an orchard at Odyssey — a school where children journey from season to season, from first planting to steady growth with close care and daily attention. Imagine that harvest.
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