JOANNA'S FOOD: family cooking, from scratch, every day


Monday, May 28, 2007

The crab apple tree























This is the sad view from the kitchen this morning. It's been raining steadily and hard for at least 24 hours, there was quite a wind last night - and this morning, the crab apple was down. Twice before, when it was young, it was blown over by the wind, even though it's in quite a sheltered part of the garden. Then it was younger, and we pulled it back up. This time, it's too heavy to move, although the four of us tried. This spring it was particularly beautiful, its lovely single white blossom scenting the air a surprising distance. I shall miss it, probably more than any other tree in the garden.























My mother-in-law planted the crab 25 years ago, to provide shade for the garden table. We've eaten hundreds of meals under its branches, drunk numerous cups of coffee, glasses of wine. I once tried to grow a Mme Alfred Carriere rose up it, but it got cut by the mower and didn't thrive. The first photograph I ever had of Lucius shows him standing in front of it in his socks, ice bucket in hand. I feel pretty sentimental about that tree.


















Now, Lucius, who dug the hole and put the tree in it, who pulled it up when it blew down, is cutting it up with a chainsaw and Alfred is taking away all the pieces. I hope that a little log of it can be saved to turn a little piece of treen to use as a paperweight.




















So, no crab apple jelly this year. Time for change. And we'll have the pleasure of choosing another tree to shade our summers.


5 comments:

Cottage Smallholder said...

How sad, Joanna. I love the trees in our garden, especially those that we have planted ourselves. Loosing a tree is like losing a friend.

Anonymous said...

What a touching story. I would be sad if we lost any of the trees in our orchard. But it will be fun choosing another type of tree.
Sara from farmingfriends

Joanna said...

While we were eating lunch, the green woodpecker came to the lawn, and I was reminded of all the birds that have found refuge in the crab apple over the years - the woodpeckers, the tits (coal tits, blue tits), a tree creeper, the robins, blackbirds, finches ... and now the tree is in pieces all over the orchard on its way to being burnt ... extraordinary the amount of space it takes up now that it is no longer whole

Joanna

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Oh Joanna, that's really sad. What would be really lovely is a little bowl made from a piece for putting nibbles in (heart healthy ones of course) to go with drinks that you can have under the new tree you choose to plant. If I lived nearby I know the perfect person for wood turning. Amanda

Mallika said...

Hi Joanna - so sorry about the crab apple tree. My beautiful aram lilies were mercilessly destroyed by gale winds this morning to my misery - and that's only on my tiny balcony!!

So glad u enjoyed the khichdi "kedgeree". I'm very much into healthy things myself, so I'll no doubt be reading regularly.