Against all odds

Submitted by Ledge and Gardens Blog

High 69 F
Low 54 F

Tucker and I set off on a short walk to the back field one morning this week which is not unusual. He loves to smell and romp in the field and often there is something new to see. The property on which I live and garden was once part of a large farm consisting of fields cut and bisected by stone walls. When I was a child, I lived in the valley below this hill about two miles away. We could see the farmhouse which sits on the property next to Ledge and Gardens. The trees have since grown to hide every vestige and individuality of one property from another. The stone walls provided property division but, more importantly, were a necessity as it is difficult to hay a field filled with stones, rocks and boulders. It is much more fun to garden among them. It does seem to be the propensity of human beings to want to put their personal marks on the boundaries of their land and lives with fences, either rock or wood. But here the practicalities of life, such as clearing the fields, were a necessity in the last century. Hence the stone walls. Many of them are in the woods now. Woods which have since grown up, around, and through the walls but the walls remain as visible evidence of a long ago farm. In addition to the stone walls which mark this land there stands this lone apple tree. Now it is standing in just a bit of a clearing. Not full sun by any means. This apple tree does not have the girth one would expect of an old tree but I have lived in this place for over thirty-five years and this tree was not young when I moved here. It has struggled to survive for many years and it may well have been planted by a bird rather than the farmhouse owner. I don’t ever remember it having the wealth of blooms which it has produced this year. To stand under it is to be enveloped in its’ sweet fragrance as it drifts about and to be surrounded by the pale pink petals which form a halo above. It survives here against all odds.

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