Would You Look at This
Every year around this time, the shift happens quietly. The blossoms are long gone, the tiny apples have started putting on weight, and almost without realizing it, the orchard feels different.
Matthew summed it up perfectly this week.
“For the first time ever, it feels like an actual fruit orchard."
He’s right.
For years after we planted the orchard, we've cared for these trees. Through Manitoba winters, dry summers, hungry deer, birds, storms, and all the uncertainty that comes with growing something that asks for patience.
Some years asked more of us than others. But every year, a little more growth was established.
This is the first summer we've all found ourselves saying,
"Wow...this is starting to become something."
The rows feel bigger. The branches are heavier. You stop because another tree is loaded with apples, or because one variety is doing something you didn't expect. Or maybe because the nest you've been checking on since spring suddenly has babies in it.
The orchard has a funny way of making you look both ways at once. Back to where it started, and ahead to where it's going.
It's exciting!
Harvest is still a little ways off, but for the first time, it feels like the orchard is beginning to tell its own story.
We'll see you out here.
