Good Intentions

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The saying goes - “The path to hell is paved with good intentions”. The point is, action is the step that gets plans done! Well, there is no eternal hell. I suspect some live hell on earth, but that is beside the point of this blog. I want to talk about my good intentions with planting Black Walnut trees.

My intention in 2018 when we moved to the 17 acres of rolling hills in the foothills of the Green Mountains in Richmond, Vermont, was to start a business of growing 100 Black Walnut trees that would be harvested in forty years for the benefit of my three grandkids.

Good thought, and who knows, maybe my good intentions will amount to benefit someone, someday. In the meantime - the present, which is all there is - I find it a treat to see them grow. I am attached to my Black Walnut trees. Two of the sixty trees I planted produced walnuts this year. They say each tree will produce 30 bushels of nuts - what? I didn’t think about the nuts when I started! When I found out about the fruit bearing, I thought, well, that’s not mine to worry about. But here we are with mandarin size fruit, and struggling how to get to the walnut. I suspect nuts will pop like popcorn in my 80”s, which I plan to live through. I am experiencing more fun than I expected. Maybe I’ll still plant the forty more I intended. Things change. Sometimes you have to pivot.

Survival