Bubba's Nursery

  Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. -Theodore Roosevelt That feels like a bullseye for an official nursery motto. It truly resonates with those who have a genuine purpose in life, something worthwhile that drives them forward. Ages ago, they used to create generational structures like the Panama Canal, the intercontinental railway system, and even the pyramids. While most trees don't have the same structural integrity as some of those edifices above, they should undoubtedly be thought of as generational structures. Properly cared for, a tree will outlive you. They represent the passage of time and the continuity of life. They're like good children who grow up to be responsible adults that will eventually see your descendants playing sad music at your wake. Or happy music; the trees don't judge. So it is, in a sense, that anyone who plants a tree may be undertaking one of these monumental tasks. Yet...

 A long, long time ago, a farm stood stoutly in a valley. There were apple trees ( Malus spp.) some growing deliberately and others were with little forethought for their future.  A long time ago, the farmers died or grew incapable of maintaining the homestead. The trees suffered some, though their roots were strong enough to weather the years of neglect. The farm changed with age but, just as the chicken coop collapsed and the barn and the house began to fall apart, the children returned to help.  The last living farmer reluctantly gave in to the demands of "no more chores" forever and permitted the barn to become a garage and the coop into further decay. Even the old farmhouse, once bought from a Sears catalog, underwent renovation, with the root cellar becoming a "finished basement." It was around this time that the last apple tree ( Malus coronaria ), was felled.  A time ago, one of the farmer's descendants began caring for some of the trees again. Though t...