Pruning, miracles and good cookin’

Easter is only about 10 days off, and spring seems to have arrived, sort of. Grass is showing hints of green in yards and some farm fields here in TIMESLand, and bird songs are greeting the morning sun.

GROWIN’ THINGS

Frost is pretty much out of the ground except in shady spots, so it’s time to start sprucing up the orchard. My orchard specialist friend tells me now is the time to prune the apple trees. While you’re pruning, if any buds are showing, collect some cuttings to force so you can enjoy the fragrant beauty of apple blossoms in the house long before the orchard puts on its spring dress, perhaps even in time for Easter. 

Pruning encourages healthier growth, heavier flowering and fruiting, and opens up the trees for more effective bug control. Best is to prune both branches and roots. Anyway, if your trees are to have a pedicure, it should be done while they are still dormant, which means time now is getting short. Of course, the ground has to be sufficiently thawed to get the shovel in for the root pruning. You can also do root pruning in late fall after the leaves are falling.

ROOT PRUNING

Use a flat-bladed shovel or spade with a sharp edge. Locate the “weep line”, which is where the end of the farthest branch. Plunge that shovel deep into the ground along this line all the way around the tree. Into the cuts, sprinkle a half pound of Epsom salts per full grown tree. The trees respond to Epsom salts by having better color, thicker foliage and bark and heftier blossoms. 

Then, drill holes in a circle 9 inches out from the weep line, and insert a piece of a tree spike fertilizer into each hole. The holes should be an inch in diameter, a foot deep and about 18 inches apart. Brew up some tea, using 4 tea bags per gallon of water. Let this cool, and then add 2 ounces of shampoo. Pour some of this into each hole, over the tree spike pieces, and fill the holes with soil. This tip came from Jerry Baker’s book, “Flower Power”. 

GIVE IT A MANICURE

For the regular pruning; use sharp tools. You should clean the tools between trees to avoid spreading disease. Making all cuts flush to a larger branch or the trunk, trim off all broken or dead branches, as well as any that go straight up from the regular branches. Also, destroy any suckers growing up around the trunk. For major pruning beyond this, you probably should get some on-site advice, but Door County orchards usually have their trees kept low and spreading, with their centers almost cone-shaped if viewed from the top. All wounds over an inch in diameter should be covered with pruning paint to prevent entry of infection.

RUSH THE SEASON

While you’re in the orchard, cut some small live branches for forcing if there are any buds showing. It might be too early. In addition to apple and plum blossoms, forsythia, flowering cherry and flowering crab are fairly reliable to force. Choose branches with lots of buds, and try to take them from spots you might want to trim anyway. Use a sharp knife, and make good, clean cuts flush against the tree trunk, leaving no stub. Apply a bandage of pruning paint wherever you’ve cut.

Take the branches you’ve cut and crush or split them a few inches from the bottom so they can drink more readily. Put them in a bucket of room-temperature water and store in a cool place, maybe 60 to 65 degrees, if you can. A warmer room will bring flowers more quickly, but they won’t be as large or as plentiful. Change the water once a week. You should have blossoms in 2 to 3 weeks. 

MODERN MIRACLES

The Bible is filled with tales of miracles, and certainly Jesus’ life was filled with them. When we think of miracles, we think of things that happened thousands of years ago.

But there’s every reason to believe miracles still happen today. We just don’t recognize them, because they’re often little favors God does for us as a kind and loving Father, not major world changing events.

I have told this story of one of our own little family miracles before.

The oldest grandson was to make his First Communion on Holy Thursday. For the ceremony, his parents were supposed to escort him up to the altar. This public appearance required that all three be suitably dressed. 

They were a very young and struggling family, and had three other sons to provide for. The grandparents for various reasons also had no extra money. Proper attire for the First Communion boy was no problem. Neither was a dress for Mom. But Dad had no suit. No one among our family or friends was the right shape to have a suit he could borrow, and the price of a new one was simply too steep.

Our property had two houses - one we lived in, the other had been vacant for years. When we started worrying about the suit issue everything outdoors that had not been plowed or shoveled was covered with snow. As spring advanced, the snow receded. Finally, just before Palm Sunday, when the problem of the suit was becoming acute, there came a warm spell and the snow melted off the steps of that old abandoned farmhouse where my grandparents once lived.

On the steps, poking out from under the bit of snow that was left was a box from a well known catalog store. It had apparently been buried under the snow all winter. Whatever name and address the label once bore was totally washed away. There was no way to tell who the package was intended for, and none of us had any idea how it got there. But inside that box, safely sealed in a plastic bag, was a brand new suit, just the right size, style and color for Dad to wear as he walked proudly down the aisle with his first born son on First Communion Day.

Coincidence or miracle? Bet if you think about it, your family also has had a modern day miracle or two. No one deserves miracles. We can’t earn them. They just happen, but sometimes we have to ask. They are gifts from God. We just need to accept them, use them well and hopefully remember to thank Him.

COOKIN’ TIME

EASTER SURPRISE COOKIES

This recipe comes from the folks at Land O Lakes.

Cookie:

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup butter, softened 

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 

48 jelly beans 

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 

5 to 6 teaspoons milk

1 1/3 cups sweetened flaked coconut 

Food color, if desired 

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all cookie ingredients except flour and jelly beans in bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Stir in flour until well mixed. Shape rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into 1-inch balls. Place 1 jelly bean in center of each ball making sure candy is covered with dough. Place cookies two inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 15-18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool completely. Combine powdered sugar and enough milk for desired glazing consistency in bowl; stir until smooth. Tint coconut with food color, if desired. Dip tops of cookies in glaze; sprinkle with coconut. 

Thought for the week: We’re in the final days of Lent, and counting down to Easter. Help us, Lord, to accept the gifts you offer, and to understand that though you do not always give us what we want, you do always give us what we should have. Help us realize that you never promised a calm passage through this life, but sent Jesus to die on the cross to atone for the sins we committed on our journey so we can enjoy eternity in heaven when our time comes.

(This column is written by Shirley Prudhomme of Crivitz. Views expressed are her own and are in no way intended to be an official statement of the opinions of Peshtigo Times editors and publishers. She may be contacted by phone at 715-291-9002 or by e-mail to shirleyprudhommechickadee@yahoo.com.)