Here on the South Coast, in our amazing subtropical environment, almost everything stays green all year round. In my garden though, I have a deciduous tree; it’s been turning brown and losing it’s leaves gradually over the last few weeks. As I watch the changes in the tree I can’t help thinking about how out of touch we as humans are with ourselves as a part of The Natural World. The tree has not turned brown overnight; neither have the leaves all fallen off in one go. Nature has a unique rhythm that is beautiful to see – flowers bud, slowly bloom and may lie dormant before blooming again; fruit and leaves take time to appear, to ripen, and to fall. Yet we humans have no sense of this rhythm – we wish to heal from injury or illness in a hurry; we wish to function at the same rate all year round with no resting or dormant period of time; we wish to never let our ‘leaves turn brown and fall from our tree’.
Stretching this analogy, trees that are pruned are healthier and stronger, and fruit trees that are regularly pruned produce more fruit, and better quality fruit. Nature’s lesson of self-control? When a tree is not producing fruit, it’s not the blossoms or the branches at fault, it’s usually an issue with the soil and the roots – this is a fact that every gardener and farmer knows instinctively. It is indeed true for people too.
Our signs and symptoms are the buds, the branches and the fruit. Imploring is to take a good look at the soil and the roots.
