At the risk of exploiting grief, I have one last (I hope!) post about my mother who died this past January.
Her house is in the process of being sold. I was there to pick up some things yesterday, and the saddest part was seeing the orchard of heirloom fruit trees - apples, pears, and quince - she planted and nourished (she never sprayed once!) dripping with a glorious weight of fruit. I happened to be there in the spring, and noted with sadness the richest burst of blossoms I’ve ever seen in her meadow. It’s an easy trick, seeing messages in nature; I went straight there. It was probably just a great year for fruit trees, but to me the joyous bloom was her orchard’s kiss goodbye.
And now the mass of limbs bend and bow with the fruits of those blossoms. As I said, I’ve never seen my mother’s orchard like this.
I have no idea if the new owners of the home will preserve the orchard or not, but my mother strongly believed in preserving heirloom species, and she believed in the beauty and gifts of fruit trees.
There’s an organization in Boston that believes the same: The Boston Tree Party is working to plant heritage apple trees throughout Boston and its suburbs. Having begun the project on the Rose Kennedy Garden, The Boston Tree Party hopes to have a garland of heritage apples bearing fruit anywhere they can enlist people to help - from schools to nursing homes to town greens - by 2015.
The Boston Tree Party is an urban agriculture project, a performative re-imagining of American political expression, and a participatory public art project. At its core, the Party is a diverse coalition of organizations, institutions, and communities from across the Greater Boston Area coming together in support of Civic Fruit. We call for the planting of fruit trees in civic space and promote the fruits of civic engagement. Each community has committed to planting and caring for a pair of heirloom apple trees. Together, these trees form a decentralized public urban orchard that symbolizes a commitment to the environmental health of our city, the vitality and interconnectedness of our communities, and the wellbeing of the next generation.
I hope my mother’s orchard is preserved, but I hope even more, on her behalf, that we see apple trees grow casually in our communities again. Climb them, raise noses to the blossoms, picnic beneath their crooked branches, gather their fruit. I'm hoping to become a North Shore delegate for the Boston Tree Party, and to help them encourage cities to plant fruit trees however I can; check out their website; think about where you can plant two apple trees, or even an orchard.
The point is to plant now; remember, my mother’s orchard took only thirty years, not even half a life time to become a beautiful space lovelier than any church or even cathedral four seasons of the years. Here are some photos from a happier time in her orchard not too long ago.
