For those of you who think
I am totally mad.
my unwillingness to cut flowers
began with a tree, twice the size of this
and a chain like this
hanging from the branches
and a gentle old lady
The tree was an almond tree and it was covered in fruit.
The wonderfully gentle elderly woman reached up
and picked a handful of the dried fruit and
showed me how to discover the nut inside.
Twice, I hit my head on the chains that were hanging
from one of the branches
(rather nasty, rusty old chain with three heavy strands
attached to a ring large enough to put your hand into)
Being the curious type I asked why it was hanging there
"Oh, dear, that's the tree beater"
"The what?"
"The tree beater,
when we first came here, 50 years ago,
the tree didn't bear fruit
so after a few years
my Jack put this chain together for me and each year
I beat the tree, every day for a week, around the trunk,
and it has never failed to produce a crop like this."
Well I did have to ask why, didn't I?!
The answer was that apparently almond trees
bear more fruit if they are stressed
and beating the trunk with a heavy chain rope
stresses the tree
Now the problem is that I have never forgotten that
and I figure if someone beat me with a chain
I would be stressed to
because
it would hurt!!!!!!
So
the question is
do you think it is possible that plant life might feel pain?
Just in case the answer is yes I no longer
go on the attack with the secateurs!!!!!
What do you think?
Goodnight
