In the spring of 2020, we were plagued by the unknown. It wasn’t just my family or yours; it was everyone’s family. My daughter’s friend Sammy, the only member of her family who was vaccinated, spent her days in the hospital with her dying-of-covid mother. My next door neighbor lost her husband to the virus. Most of us were just inconvenienced. We didn’t attend church; we didn’t hug; we were wary of anyone in closed quarters. It’s no way to live but at least we lived.
I planted peach trees.
I planted two of them for Tony’s anniversary present. Peach trees need a companion in order to cross pollinate and to produce fruit.
I planted two different varieties of peaches in two of the most shaded grow boxes.
In their third year, the peach trees exploded with fruit.
I watched the little buds with hope, for so many things can go wrong with a little fruit tree. When the wind blew, we lost some of the tiny green beginnings, but it was just enough to do the needed thinning.
Towards the end of winter, I dreaded and watched for the late-winter frost. It never came.
The peaches continued to thrive.
Then we hit that time of year when the peach trees needed to be sprayed to combat the peach borer worm. The borer, bores into the base of the tree, climbs within the main trunk and like a trojan horse destroys the tree from the inside.
I knew it was necessary to spray, but I couldn’t comply.
My garden is full of birds, squirrels, and the occasional unwelcome deer or raccoon. It has grasshoppers, and beetles, and ants, and never-ending weeds. Bees are safe in my garden. The soil is full of worms. Every grape or tomato is safe to eat after plucked from its vine. There is a big drum full of composting greens and kitchen waste. There isn’t one iota of poison in the garden.
To spray the peach trees with an insecticide would throw off the delicate ecosystem beside the house. I searched for an alternative.
Garlic, I read. Planting garlic bulbs at the base of the peach trees supposedly keeps the worm away. It was past the time for planting garlic bulbs, but I did have garlic. I separated a bulb and placed it in the food processor with oil.
I slathered the peach tree trunk with garlic oil. I hoped to confuse the evil peach borer.
We outwitted, outsmarted, the peach borer this year. On our first morning together in the garden, we picked a big bowl of peaches. Knowing we couldn’t’ eat them all, we separately plotted all the family and friends we would give them too. I’d planned to give to the neighbor who gave us tomatoes. I offered peaches to my ministering sisters. I’d planned to make a peach cobbler for the grandkids when they came to swim.
Tony offered some to the handyman, and pretty soon we’d given away more than we had.
When you’re blessed, you want to bless others.
And now, I’m on a plane headed to Iceland for a week of hiking. If I’d known, I would have planned it around peach season…the peach season at the time was an abundance I’d never known or never imagined-- would exist.
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