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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