very old – very alive

I need to share what I saw in the garden today.

When we fail to see any overground signs of life it is difficult for us to imagine that an olive tree like the one in the picture is still alive.
In the form of wrinkles, lines and twisted knots its trunk shows the passage of time while we don´t see its deep roots and an infinity of minuscule life. Wild beauty in the shape of holes and crannies and nooks that provides a home for insects, rabbits and snakes.
Healthy olive trees rarely die if not of very very old age. They just go to sleep for a short while when, say, a wildfire raged over them. But as soon as the time is right and sufficient rain has fallen, you can observe how new life springs from a seemingly dead sculpture of twisted wood.

Many generations ago a man dug the holes, by hand with a shovel, without a machine. He planted small trees, seedlings barely an inch in diameter, he would take care of them until his last days to pass them on to his children, and their children, until these botanical miracles came to me to be cared for.
In 2021 I now can touch, harvest and care for the trees that my ancestors planted, connecting with my forefathers and with nature at once.
Life is an infinite wonder.

Love – Ana