Eight years ago, we planted a Honeycrisp apple tree.
This spring, for the very first time, it is blooming.
That already feels like a little miracle — but what makes it even sweeter is that last year, we weren’t sure this tree would survive at all.
Our goats got out and stripped nearly all the bark from the trunk, leaving only a thin ribbon intact. My son was furious. After some determined research into how to save a girdled tree, he came back with a rather dramatic recommendation: dig a trench around the tree and bury the goats there to “feed it.”
Don’t worry — no goats were harmed!
Instead, we carefully wrapped the trunk, fenced the tree off, and waited. Through the whole winter it stood there looking wounded and uncertain. I was pretty sure we’d lost it. But this spring, against all the odds, it is completely covered in blossoms.
It brought to mind John 15:5:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (NIV)
There is something so hopeful — and admittedly outside of our control — about watching living things recover. A branch connected to life keeps reaching toward the sun, even after hardship. Sometimes growth is obvious. Other times it goes unnoticed, healing beneath protective wrapping and careful fencing — until one spring morning, there are blossoms exactly where I feared there would only be lifeless sticks.
Spring also reminds me just how remarkable nourishment really is. Food grown close to healthy soil carries something more — not only good flavor, but vitality. Sunlight, minerals, rain, microbes, roots, blossoms, pollinators — all quietly working together to create food that truly nourishes life. Our cows draw all of this up through the sun-soaked grass, nourishing themselves and their future calves. And our apple tree does the same. This time of year lets watch that whole beautiful process begin again in real time.
Tiny buds becoming blossoms. Blossoms becoming fruit. Life connected, rooted, and growing.
Wishing you a beautiful spring day,
Leah
