The Orchard, Learning to Cast

Reclaiming the Orchard

My uncle Bill's boy is spending the week out at our farm. I've taken the opportunity to work the little feller up on the hill in the evenings. We worked on reclaiming the old orchard last night. Wow, what a job. I don't know when the last time was that anyone even noticed it was there! Its been neglected for so many years it resembles a jungle more than an orchard. Whoever planted it would cry if they saw it today. It looks like everything else in our county, run down and forgotten. The old barn at my inlaws is now so far gone it probably can't be saved. Its a shame too, the old draft horse stalls are really neat and the details of its design tell stories about the man who built it. Soon it will join the ash heap of history. In 20 years or so no one will even remember what it looked like. Did it have 4 stalls or 5? No one will know, few will even care. Why are we so quick to forget our history and our roots? Why don't we care for those things left to our generation. We have lost more barns in our parents generation than in all the previous ones, I think. Anyway.....We have started cutting out all the junk trees and brush. We fight back the vines and thorns and trim back the dead wood on the old fruit trees. It will take more time than cutting it all and planting new, but its a matter of principle now.


Learning to Cast

I spent my lunch time yesterday teaching little John how to cast his fishin' pole. The little boogers catching on. We plan on going on his first fishing trip this week. I heard him ask his brother Noah if he wanted fish for his supper. I've got a feeling that we will be eating whatever he catches. Hope it ain't a creek chub!