Bringing forth good fruit

My grandma’s orchard has five apple trees, but I normally only think of four of them. The fifth has not been producing very well in the five years we have been here. It puts on apples but not very many and they got wormy and soft really early. I was ready to cut this tree down. Luckily my husband is more considerate of my grandparent’s feelings. My grandma loves every plant in her yard. And it is still her property, we are just trying to help her take care of it. So he endorsed just pruning it well and watching to see what happened.  Which we did.

Sadly this tree hasn’t exactly been taken care of its whole life. There have been some unfortunate cuts made in the past. But pruning is a whole other topic. This is a hole that goes at least 3 feet. We stuck in a rake handle to measure it. I am amazed that the tree is still alive.

In past years we didn’t worry about pruning this tree. With over 20 trees it is a real job to prune them all in the spring so we sometimes have to prioritize. For me this tree was at the bottom of the list because of the fruit it produced.  But this spring we gave it a pretty major hair cut. 
I have to admit my husband was absolutely right.  (Yes, I will admit that once in a while.) This year it actually produced quite a few big beautiful apples.

The moral of this story is that if you have a tree that isn’t producing well, don’t just cut it down. There is a good chance that it just needs some tender loving care, or maybe tough love is a more accurate description. Give it a good prune this winter/spring and see what happens. What have you got to lose? If nothing else you will learn something about how to prune. Or how not to prune. 😉

As I was picking the apples from this tree this morning I couldn’t help thinking that it is the same with people. There are times when we just want to give up on them. They are not rated high on our priority list. But the truth is that most people just need some attention and care to become more productive. 

I am sometimes tempted to give up on myself. I struggle a bit with depression and perfectionism. I feel like if I can’t do all the things I think I should be able to do that I might as well give up. But there is no point in life where you are past being able to improve. You don’t have to be perfect. Just don’t give up! Don’t give up on yourself and don’t give up on others.