By Moranda Van Geest
It has been standing there, rooted in that same spot. She is beautiful during any season of the year. She is a large apple tree with a massive trunk. When I spoke ten years ago to someone who was then eighty years old, he mentioned that this tree was big when he was a little boy. How old this tree is, we don't know, but we are sure she is pushing the century mark. It might not be so significant for a tree to be a century old, you might think. However, this tree was planted by someone to produce food. Food for winter. Yes, she produces apples. These apples carry the name of Bethel. An old variety. They are winter apples you can store during the winter.
When I say she is big, large, tall -- all this is true. She is so tall, when you have a 24-foot ladder, you cannot reach her upper branches. Her trunk has a circumference so large that you cannot touch your fingers if you try to put your arms around her.
It has been standing there, rooted in that same spot. She is beautiful during any season of the year. She is a large apple tree with a massive trunk. When I spoke ten years ago to someone who was then eighty years old, he mentioned that this tree was big when he was a little boy. How old this tree is, we don't know, but we are sure she is pushing the century mark. It might not be so significant for a tree to be a century old, you might think. However, this tree was planted by someone to produce food. Food for winter. Yes, she produces apples. These apples carry the name of Bethel. An old variety. They are winter apples you can store during the winter.
When I say she is big, large, tall -- all this is true. She is so tall, when you have a 24-foot ladder, you cannot reach her upper branches. Her trunk has a circumference so large that you cannot touch your fingers if you try to put your arms around her.
“Large” really points to her massive canopy, spread out in an almost perfect circle around her.
The tree stands close to a brook. She has weathered all types of weather throughout her lifetime. The tree still looks young and healthy. She is strong. She is strong enough to hold three bear cubs on her branches. Mama bear brings her cubs each fall to devour the bounty of delicious apples.
Again this year, I know she will be blossoming with thousands of white-pink blossoms. The bees will be buzzing for days to enjoy this bounty. People will enjoy the look of this. After the blossoms, the apples will form. During the summer she functions as a shade tree and a great tree for birds that will use her as a nesting site. In the fall, there will yet be another bounty of apples, just like she has done for the many decades of her long life. People enjoy her large, old-variety apples.
She has seen seasons come and seasons go. Many of her orchard tree companions have long since disappeared. Somehow she has survived. She survived all the turmoil of the past century and is still standing strong. Not much attention is being paid to her anymore. Sort of a forgotten old tree, she is. Still standing in the same spot she was planted around a hundred years ago.
The tree stands close to a brook. She has weathered all types of weather throughout her lifetime. The tree still looks young and healthy. She is strong. She is strong enough to hold three bear cubs on her branches. Mama bear brings her cubs each fall to devour the bounty of delicious apples.
Again this year, I know she will be blossoming with thousands of white-pink blossoms. The bees will be buzzing for days to enjoy this bounty. People will enjoy the look of this. After the blossoms, the apples will form. During the summer she functions as a shade tree and a great tree for birds that will use her as a nesting site. In the fall, there will yet be another bounty of apples, just like she has done for the many decades of her long life. People enjoy her large, old-variety apples.
She has seen seasons come and seasons go. Many of her orchard tree companions have long since disappeared. Somehow she has survived. She survived all the turmoil of the past century and is still standing strong. Not much attention is being paid to her anymore. Sort of a forgotten old tree, she is. Still standing in the same spot she was planted around a hundred years ago.
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