Monday, November 7, 2016

Three Things I Learned from Pecan Trees




November at the Texas homestead means pecan time!  I grew up crawling around the ground, picking up the pecans and throwing them into paint buckets my dad had saved from one of his home remodels.  As kids, we would build leaf forts and stash our pecans in cubby holes to use as ammunition.  Sort of a The Alamo meets Southwood Pecan Wars.

We had 28 trees on the almost acre when Dad built the homestead on one of Arlington’s most beautiful streets over 60 years ago.  The trees were very small.  I’ve climbed all these trees, albeit not lately.  I grew up with these tree friends, enjoyed their sheltering branches, leaned against them when frustrated, and laid on the grass near them watching puffy clouds in the sky.  We now have twenty pecan trees, down eight and I am losing two more in the next few weeks.  Whenever I lose a tree, I grieve the loss of a dear friend.

Storms these past few years have been brutal to my tree family.  Two of the trees were severely damaged in a wind storm two years ago, hung on but could not pull it off.  And, something I cannot control, takes the lives of two more trees.  At this point, though, in order to not cause damage to the house, they have to come down.

Pecan trees produce best when getting the nourishment they need:  A balance of water.  (Too much water affects the trees AND the pecans.)   Great sun. (No problem here for sun.)  Good food (We feed our trees every February.)

Surprisingly, this is the third year in a row most of my trees have produced.  Not all trees produced, which I am still analyzing, but the trees that did are dropping thousands of pecans in the yard.

It is therapeutic for me to pick up pecans.  I have all the right tools - a very well used orange pecan picker-upper and well used paint buckets.  One year I bought a rolling pecan picker which works great when there are no leaves or branches on the ground to also be picked up.  Somehow, none of the advertising pictures showed half the basket full of hulls, leaves and sticks.  I have gone back to the old reliable orange pecan picker-upper.

As I was getting my therapy in pecan-ing the other day, I was thinking about business correlations with pecan trees.
  • Pecans come in all sizes and types of shells.
  • I always have to look at the ground from different perspectives.  Pecans sometimes hide just beneath the grass.
  •  I never take the trees for granted.  Giving them what they need to be healthy, I do realize that there are outside forces that take their toll on them.

All shapes, sizes and types of shells.  We have a variety of pecan trees in our yard.  Before this land was subdivided into almost acre lots, it was a working pecan orchard.  I thought an orchard would plant all the same kind of trees but then it makes complete sense that it doesn’t.  

Some varieties are hardier against drought.  Some are hardier against too much rain.  Some are hardier against bugs or disease.

Some have a shell that is so thin, when it hits the driveway pavement, it cracks.  Some shells are so thick, I’m glad I have them cracked by a machine.  Some are small.  Some shells look so bad on the outside that you would think the pecan meat itself was bad.  Some are so light in weight you would think there was no meat at all.

Some trees start bearing in the fall sooner than others.  Some trees take their time, as if they are reluctant to let go.  Most produce every other year.  Some reluctantly produce every three or four years.  Some of my trees are on their third year in a row producing.

The one thing they all have in common is the meat inside.  Barring any disease or major drought (as we did for a few years), the meat may be different sizes but it tastes the same.

Every year, this city girl feels like a farmer, as I go amongst the crop, picking up two pecans.  First, I hold them in my hand to feel the weight.  Next, I look at the outside of the nut itself.  Some look darker than others.  Honestly, I have absolutely no idea what I’m looking at but I’ve done it so many years, I think I would know if something was off, think being the imperative word.

The next thing I do is crack the pecan with another pecan.  I examine the meat.  Is it full?  Does it show any signs of mildew?  But, most importantly, how does it taste?

Look from a different perspective.  During pecan season, every day I am in town, I spend a little quiet time outside harvesting.  

When the leaves start dropping, you can’t see the pecans but you can still feel them under your feet if you are wearing flip flops.  Even if it turns cold, I’m wearing flip flops in the yard because I want to feel them.  My mom used to yell at me – something about catching a cold, not wearing socks, nor a jacket....

I can pick up the pecans walking one direction, scanning all around while I’m picking them up.  Yet, if I walk across that same area from a different direction, it looks as if I had not picked up any pecans because there are so many in front of me that I missed.  When they fall from the trees, they bounce under the grass, hidden from view.  I go over the yard in the same area many times because I hate to miss even one pecan.

I think a lot about perspective while picking up pecans in the peace of an afternoon.  Sometimes picking up pecans helps with my own perspective as I am reminded about the need for looking at the ground from a different angle.  

Never take the trees for granted.  When the drought in 2013 took two of my trees from the front yard, I grieved as if I had lost two dear friends.  They had been a member of the landscape for over 80 years but they just couldn’t fight it any longer.

My biggest heartache came after the windstorm in October 2014.  My trees were severely stressed with the loss of massive limbs.  After major trimming of at least half my trees, I babied them with food and provision, hoping I could save them all.  I did everything I could but I will lose two more this month.  

Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do.  Sometimes things are out of your control.  Sometimes you have to admit that you’ve done what you could do and it’s time to take appropriate action.  In this case, it is call the tree guy.

Summary.   There are people worth nurturing in our lives.  Our family.  Our businesses.  Our colleagues.  They come in all shapes and sizes.  Some of them look very vastly different on the outside but the inside is valuable meat.  Some have a little bit to give.  Some give a lot in a small package.  

Some of the more timid ones hide and need a little coaxing.  Some take more effort and time but, in the long run, the output is worth it.  Some have a hard exterior – harder to crack and understand.  Some exteriors are too thin, cracking under very little pressure.

Some need to be looked at differently, given space to be all they can grow to be.  Some people in our lives have been pigeonholed to a life.  What if they looked at things a little differently?

Why in the world do I spend so much time picking up pecans?  I love pecans.  Over 61 years of having a homestead on this property, there is an accumulation of pecan recipes.  And, also a tradition of my family, we love to give pecans away.  Many friends have enjoyed picking up pecans with me. 

Maybe the bigger take away not to be missed personally is how being in the presence of my trees brings such the sheer joy.  Life can be so overwhelming.  Just as the seasons affect the trees, so can what happens to us in life.

This past year has been very overwhelming.  Focusing on the writing of Matters Of The Heart:  A Journey In Caring For An Aging Loved One consumed most of my time and energy this past year.  With the publication now available on Amazon, I can get back to my regular job.   

In the midst of trying to figure out life, try not to panic.  Breathe deeply.  Go enjoy the fruit of the company that you enjoy.  Do what brings you sheer joy!

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