New Growth

In these cold gray days of winter, you can either get depressed or reflective.

The cherry orchard is so bare this time of year.

But I love going for walks through the farm.

This tree is old (by fruitbearing standards).

I love this one.

Winter around the orchard is time for pruning.

Not just deadwood, but also good wood that overcrowds the chance for new growth.

This was a healthy branch... but there were too many healthy branches on this tree. Some of it had to go to make room for new life.

Cutting it out hurts.

But it's necessary for the benefit, life, and fruitfulness of the tree.

Wintertime, with its seemingly unending nights, is the time I start pondering things in my life it's time to prune out. Dead wood? Obviously. But perhaps I'm overcrowding my schedule a bit too much, and though they're good and healthy activities... maybe it's time to make some painful cuts (no embroidery class? no foil fencing class? no chair caning class? not being on 4 committees? volunteering for a million things?) and say "no" so as to make room for new growth.

Like... keeping my house clean? Applying myself more to teaching the nieces? Exercising more?

It'll be worth it come harvest time.