There's one tree in the yard that I hug, even occasionally in winter, so he/she knows I haven't forgotten about our relationship.
"The house in which I live is nestled between farms in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania. I moved here in April 2022. Last year, the apricot tree yielded little or no fruit and whatever fruit there was, was green. My dear friend from college, who has owned the house for over 20 years, said the tree is too old to produce good fruit. In May, I started sitting in a hammock swing hung from the tree, reading Hermann Hesse, with my bare feet touching the grass, grounding me to the Earth’s energy. I noticed green fruit in the tree and falling to the ground. I tasted some as I like sour, but yeesh these were too acrid.
Recently, I noticed the apricots in the tree and having fallen to the ground were at very stages of ripened and started enjoying them.
A Medium friend of mine said people have underestimated trees and their abilities and contributions to humanity and that we are only recently understanding the connections trees make underground and the various communications they have with neighbors in their ecosystem. She that the apricot tree likes me and my energy and that the tree started producing fruit again because we have entered into a mutually rewarding friendship and the tree approves and enjoys watching over me as I read in the hammock swing.
The fruit she now produces is her gift to me. I thank her and I hug her trunk."
That's from the discussion section of my poem last June, https://medium.com/weeds-wildflowers/a-poets-walk-among-weeds-and-wildflowers-f25bfdb75e7c, which concludes with these relevant verses:
Upon turning for home thirsting for juicy apricots I’ll graze,
a purple thistle haltingly caught my gaze
Stepped into the brush obtaining a better perception
Revealed previously hidden from view the floret has bumble bee’s attention
This gentle pollinating hunter-gatherer causes me no apprehension
Like Nemo, clowns around anemone fishing for nectar
Symbiotic relationships twixt flora and fauna upon God’s altar
Humans should get along so well
