Of Trees and Table Cloths

Gene Logsdon said one time that the way he planted walnut trees was to put walnuts in the ground and cover them. That makes a lot of sense, but it’s not a popular method and the reason is time. It takes years and years for a walnut tree to grow big enough to cast a good shade when it grows from a seed (nut).

Most people would never plant a tree that way. We plant dwarf trees that mature and bear fruit or nuts in a few short years. The faster, the better. It’s even hard to find full size apple trees in nurseries, and with the narrow hybrid selection of apples on the market, who can grow a real apple tree from a seed? Who would wait that long on a tree?

I was thinking about knitting a table cloth (One really does have to do with the other, honest!), and I was thinking that it would take a long time…and probably wouldn’t be worth the effort. Besides, it would take effort to launder and care for it – and probably no one would appreciate it but me.

All the reasons of someone caught up in living in a world that turns faster by the day, or so it seems. We – and I don’t shirk the responsibility of making my own decisions – go faster, do more, want more and get it faster than at any other time in the history of mankind. Every moment must be filled with something productive in some manner. Family relationships are even relegated to a “quality time” category as if they were separate from the rest of our life.

Ok, I didn’t mean to go off on a rant, but where did we miss it? Why is it so important to run toward tomorrow, barely noticing today?

I don’t know the answer. I do know that I’m going to take the time knit a tablecloth and hopefully one of my kids will enjoy it after I’m gone. I just might plant an old fashioned, big apple tree this spring, too.