I live right next to a field, and unfortunately a couple of years ago, the guy renting the land messed up the chemicals for the crops and even last year, nothing really grew in the field and a lot of the wild animals disappeared, and the fallout from that has definitely affected my own property.
This summer, things are finally starting to come back. The field is full of feeder corn that is taller than I am. I was enchanted one night to look out my kitchen window and see all the fireflies dancing in the long grass. Fireflies by themselves are cool, but they also represent something bigger - the ecosystem around here is finally starting to stabilize.
We also have some fruit trees ourselves - this has started a whole conversation in our family about whether six trees are enough to count as being an orchard. Our oldest tree is a peach tree, and I'm absolutely enchanted by it. This is the first year we've seen a good amount of peaches on it. They are still very green and only about the size of golf balls, but they have little fuzzy skins and they are super cute. I don't have much of a green thumb, so the whole process of being able to grow food is kind of a magical thing that I'm still shocked that it works (and peach trees aren't really known for being able to grow in my area, either!) Happy little tree!
