Family Trees

One of the things that I have noticed as I have been working with people over the years, is that people are proud of their family trees.  Not the “son of a son” type family tree, but the big old trees in their yards or on their acreages.  These trees have stories of time and family involvement.  

Let me give you a “for instance”.  We have an apple tree in our yard that is now nineteen years old.  Her name is BJ.  She is our family tree.   She is now quite large and shields our yard from the folks across the back fence.

  

 

This is a picture of BJ in bloom taken in late May of 2009 

 

 

When my husband and I married, our neighbours gave us a gift certificate as a wedding gift.  We bought an apple tree and named her with the initials from our neighbours.  That was in 2004.  She was hardly a twig!  We have nurtured her, fed her, sang to her, and babied her. The second year, she had five apples. Since then, she has always produced apples, although we have lost many of them to heavy hail storms.

BJ is a living record of our life together.  Our Ancestors understood the importance of being able to have visible legacy, such as a tree or a grove, that they could point to and show that the family not only honoured Mother Nature and the Green God, but that the tree or grove was distinctive, and honoured the family.  

Here is another story of a family tree or set of trees.  The summer that I was nine, my parents had forty small maple trees shipped to the farm.  My Dad said that they were needed to create a wind break along our quarter of a mile lane and some of them would shade the garden and protect it from the wind.  The trees did not seem much taller than me.  They grew quickly and sturdily, and, by the time I left home, the maple grove was fully grown.  Every time I returned to the farm, the grove was a touch point for me.

I have heard the stories of many family trees.  Trees planted for each child born into the family.  Trees planted to honour the passing of a family member.  Trees planted when the family moved to a different house and yard.  Trees planted when someone graduated either school, college/university, or in a trade.  One of our neighbours has a yard full of cherry trees and apple trees as they planted a tree when each of their four children were born.

Perhaps it is time to think about planting a family tree.

Many blessings,

Judy