Recently I was reading Garden Rant, one of my favorite blogs, where Michele Owens talked about the magic of apple trees and said that she is one of two people whe knows who bought their house because of the blooming apple tree in the yard.

I can understand this because in the spring of the year my fields are dotted with old apple trees, all in bloom right now. I can’t help thinking of the former residents of this old farm who counted on these trees for a lot more than aesthetic pleasure.

I do remember my first sight of our old farmhouse one hot September day 29 years ago. It had been used as a summer house for a number of years and was poorly maintained. After a tour of the interior, the real estate lady and I sat in the shade under an ancient apple tree, and found a couple of edible windfalls. We chomped and we listened to the silence. No other houses were in sight. The realtor didn’t have to do much selling. My fear was that we would never pull off the deal and I would never live in this ‘charming’ tumbledown house.

We did manage it and now we get to enjoy the old apples in every season, even taking a small harvest every year. The apple tree I sat under that September day has suffered further depredations, but it blooms exhuberantly, holds a tree house (platform would be more accurate) for the grandchildren and shelters the Cottage Ornee, our basic version of a summerhouse. Screens.