Johnny Appleseed

We have apple trees. I’m not sure we’ll get apples from them, but that’s our hope and expectation. We went to a class, at a local orchard, to learn about the care and feeding of apple trees. Having lived in Florida for most of my life, citrus trees and groves are what I’m most familiar with. It wasn’t unusual to get citrus from a generous neighbor who had trees or from a road side stand. But your apples came from the grocery store.

Georgia is known as the Peach State, but the area where we live is apple country. Our home came with a lovely terraced section with apple trees, a few peach trees, a couple of persimmon (still not sure what to do with that fruit should it produce any—can you say “pucker up?”) and four huge fig trees.

However, there were a few bare places where trees were missing. So we, still have painting to finish, boxes to unpack, shelves to put up in closets, a vanity to replace in a bathroom, and countless other projects, decided to get some fruit trees to fill in those empty places. (I attribute all questionable thinking to paint fumes.)

We learned, at the class, that apple trees need to be pruned for best yield. I know that’s not a profound thought, but it did make a thought-wrinkle in my brain. The pruning, the apple expert explained, is so that light and air can circulate in and around the tree. That's what makes better and more apples. It’s not just, as most people think, because the tree will make better fruit if it doesn’t have so much weight with extra branches.

This move has made me realize the truth of the old adage that you can live with a lot less than you think. As I unpack boxes, the thought sometimes races across, “Wow! I forgot I had this.” Which in reality translation means: Wow! Do I really need this?

Since there’s some changes we still want to make in the kitchen, not all kitchen items have been unpacked. So I’ve used pans for mixing bowls and jelly jars for storing leftovers among other substitutions that work just fine. There’s something freeing and energizing about living with less stuff.

For about six years I did a syndicated radio show, and one of the most popular topics I talked about was organizing and living with less. Response was always positive and high for that. But listeners often lamented that their wish was to be better organized and live ‘lighter’ but where to start????

And that brings us back to the apple trees. We were told to find the centermost, tallest, straightest vertical branch, called the leader. Then to remove lower horizontal limbs that are weak and stopping air flow. So, I’m not an apple tree, but I need to find the centermost important value in my life. Then get rid of all the life-sucking things, thoughts, and activities that hinder its growth and production. Voila! Apples and a fulfilling life. Applesauce and meaningful relationships. Apple pie and clutter-free living. Apple muffins and . . . okay I’ll stop.

Less really is more! Move forward with less clutter and have less stress and more apples.  Just one more thing-- take a minute and go kiss the apple of your eye.

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18 Turkeys

I spent the morning unpacking boxes (what else do I do these days?).  Don spent the morning painting (what else?).  When we took a break to look out at the spectacular day and the majestic mountains, there were 18 turkeys in our front yard.  Really, there were 18!  I read somewhere there are 7 million wild turkeys in the U.S.  I’m not sure why I even remembered that bit of fairly useless information, but it surfaced when the band of 18 showed up.

This pack of turkeys has been in the pasture  and up on the ridge behind the house, but we haven’t seen them in the front yard.  I guess they’re getting braver as they assess their new neighbors from Florida.   

Don carefully eased the blind all the way up to take a picture from the window.  We knew not to open the door—tried that when they were up on the ridge, and off they went.  But the alert head tom turkey heard that slight muffled clacking of the blind going up.  You see, while the 17 had their heads down eating tasty morsels from my yard, that one turkey had his head up, vigilant in his guard duty.  He quickly fanned out his tail feather to show us he was the holder of the power and the protector. Then without a another moment of delay, he led his group away.  

We’ve watched this troop while they dined in the pasture. When they’ve had enough, they sometimes march off in a straight line, following the head turkey with his tail feathers spread in authority. There are young turkeys in the crowd, lady turkeys, and a couple of other toms who occasionally show their plumage. But only one is the leader.  

I’m no expert on turkeys, but it struck me that not only was the tom-in-charge ready to display his feathers, i.e. his badge of authority, and head his flock out of danger, he was willing to stand guard while the others ate.

I recognize that as servant-leadership.  So many people want to show their plumage and get to call the shots, but doing the work to gain that authority isn’t so much fun.  So that step is often omitted. 

Leading a group, a family, an organization, whatever, without showing you care for them, it won’t matter how big your tail feathers, how far you spread them, how fast you strut, no one wants to follow.   

Turkey lesson for me is the reminder that Moving Forward often happens while you’re standing still and allowing others to get the choicest morsels.     

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