The Tree of Life

August 18, 2022 — One of the first items to find a new home in my office was this beautiful hand-blown art glass, a Christmas gift last year from my husband, with the intention to be the inspiration for and an apt symbol of establishing and growing my new practice here in Peterborough, NH.

You might notice that it is now nearly September and I’m still coming due to schedule my first clients. Some days, that length of time feels enormous. Other days, when feeling more generous towards myself and circumstances, I recognize how Nature cannot be rushed.

Two years ago, the two of us collected a few fallen apples from a century-old tree in downtown Peterborough that is still producing bushels of fruit. Eating them was secondary to harvesting them for their seeds, with the possibility of growing our own apple tree from this majestic century tree.

I collected 16 seeds, put them in a Ziploc bag with a damp paper towel, wrote the date in Sharpie to remind me when to check on them, stashed them in the back of our refrigerator, and waited four months until there were signs of germination.

Of the 16, six made it into starter pots with soil, and of those six, two made it up to our garden that summer. Only one made it to our basement for overwintering last December. That tiny seed, then 10-inch seedling, is now a four-foot sapling.

It’s taken almost two years, and a great deal of care and attention for this growth to happen. And no matter what we do — how much water, sun or fertilizer we give the tree — it can only grow at its own pace, the pace of Nature.