3-14-11 Hey Kids…

Here’s a thought about the orchard.

You remember when Mom first mentioned pruning the fruit trees to you? It was last Monday. Today, one week later, it’s almost done. And you kids did it all. Dad hasn’t even seen a pruning shears yet. Sure, Dad can do it; it’s not that he’s lazy, no, far from it. Dad did it for years when you kids were too little to even hold a pruning shears. Alternating years Mom helped too (when she wasn’t pregnant), and we enjoyed doing it together. Those were fun times, even though we (Dad & Mom) were doing it all; you kids were usually down there with us, and oh, remember all the great forts you kids built out of the water sprouts? They were impressive. Sure, it would have been easier to hire someone to do the pruning. Sure, it would have saved us a lot of time. Or we could have chopped the trees down and bought apples from a commercial orchard. That would have been much simpler, right?

Wrong.

That’s not our way. Simpler is not always better. We took the time to do the pruning, and then we took the time to teach you how to do it. We want you to know how to prune fruit trees so that someday you can plant and care for your own orchard. So every year more trees were added to our orchard. And for years we have enjoyed and shared with others our own apple crop. We’ve done it together. And it’s been a whole lot of fun.

Anyway.

Time went by, as time does, and pretty soon Levi, and then Jesse, and then Tori were big enough to handle a pruning shears. Sometimes the littler ones would get Mom’s garden clippers and cut the big sprouts into littler ones; they were “helping” too.  We continued with the teaching and instructing, and one by one you have learned how to care for an orchard. Sure it’s a lot of work, but the best things in life require a lot of work, and we want you to remember that.

So there were years where Dad and the kids would work on the trees together, or at different times, but always on the team, helping each other, while Mom had more and more homeschooling and household administration and didn’t come out quite as much.

Then came a few years where you kids did most of it, with minimal oversight from Dad.  Levi headed it up, with help from the rest of you.

Now this year. Levi has moved past pruning. That means Jesse (16), Tori (14), Jacob (12), Kate (10), and Ben (9) did it all. Is it perfect? Not by orchard standards. But by Dad’s standards, it is a home run, because Dad looks at it through the eyes of a Dad, not an orchard keeper. And we know that when Dad makes the last few difficult cuts, you’ll be right there with him, learning as you go…and having fun.

When you have kids of your own, remember the orchard, though it doesn’t have to be an orchard. Just so it’s something that is lasting, is done together, and teaches your kids how to enjoy work.

Thanks, kids.

Keep on keepin’ on.

Dad & Mom