The Blog Farm

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

No applesauce this year.

A couple days ago I headed to the family garden in great anticipation. I had been patiently waiting to harvest the McIntosh apples from our 100 year old apple tree for quite some time. Just a few days prior to this, I checked on their ripeness and was thrilled to see they were nearly ready to pick.

When I arrived at the family garden, my dad waved me over and told me he had some bad news. He was getting ready to mow the pasture that morning and made his routine stop at the apple tree to make sure all of the fallen apples were picked up....only there weren't any on the ground. Finding that pretty unusual, he looked up in the tree only to find it empty...literally, there were no apples left. Yep, we were robbed.

At first I was angry...who would do this? I calmed down after a bit and realized (with the help of my family's positive outlook) that perhaps someone else needed those apples more than we did. There will be no homemade applesauce this year but I have much more to be thankful for.... my family.... and all the memories that we have. You see, the apple tree has stood the test of time just as our family's love for one another. And the tree keeps on giving just as our family does for one another. So all is well and I'm at peace with the fact that someone took our apples. After all, there is always next year : )

On a side note: I blogged about our apple tree a while back and talked about its significance to our family : http://bentsbeergarden.blogspot.com/2010/02/family-tree.html. In the story, I mentioned that my mom used to make applesauce each season. Actually, I failed to mention that my dad also helped my mom with this task. In fact, they would spend countless hours in the kitchen making enough applesauce to last our family all winter long. I loved the cooked apple aroma emanating from our home on a crisp fall day. But I especially loved watching my parents work together....they always had a way to make work seem like fun.

10 comments:

  1. well, i guess that is a good way to look at it...somebody else needed them more...let's hope that was the case...makes you wonder though...we have kept an old white rocking chair on our front porch for years and just a few days ago. BOOM !!!! GONE. HUH? who would do that? we were sad..but got over it...like you say..we have alot to be thankful for. driving home last night i saw a woman and 2 kids standing in line at the homeless shelter...it was cold and windy...i thought about her as i lay in my warm and cozy bed last night...there is alot of need out there...

    happy to visit you today, my friend...

    kary and teddy
    xxx

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  2. That's awful! I'm glad that you can find it within yourself to forgive whoever did this (I don't know if I could). I can also rationalize why someone would feel compelled to take a few because they needed it badly, but to steal the whole lot????!!!! That's ridiculously brazen!

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  3. Kary, I missed you friend : ) I know what you mean...I have way too much to be thankful for to let the little things get me down. Sorry about your rocking chair : )

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  4. Thomas, I thought the same thing. I can see a few apples here and there but not the entire crop... The tree is near the road and we do get several people that ask if they can take a few apples on occasion and I have no problem sharing my veggies or my apples....all you have to do is ask : )

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  5. If all the windfall apples were gone as well, my guess is that it wasn't a person. This year has been a bad year for apples. I know multiple people that have had their entire tree cleaned out by squirrels. Yes, squirrels can carry away apples (I've seen them steal giant sunflower heads from us) and they wait until they are perfectly ripe and then can clean you out in less than a day.

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  6. I don't know Rachel...the tree was absolutely loaded with apples and while we have a few squirrels around we have never had a problem with them in the past. Regardless, there will be an electric fence around the tree next year. : )

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  7. Oh no! That's terrible :( I do hope it was someone who truly needed them. My biology teacher in college told us a story once, he had been growing tons of string beans in his back yard and he decided to give them one more day to be ready. The next morning they were all gone, and the timing made him feel like someone else was regularly checking his plants...Very weird.

    Anywho, better luck next year, right?

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  8. DP...that is weird. Wow, it amazes me what some people will do. : )

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  9. You need to put up a "U Loot I Shoot" sign! That is really bad but a true sign of the times.

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  10. Ha! Dan, I may have to do that...great idea : )

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