In recent years I took to writing. HEAVILY.
With numerous magazine pieces and a 300-page book coming out this Spring it's gotten to the point where I'd call myself a writer just as much as a cider maker. Fine, I can accept that. But do note that writing (and for that matter, cider making too) are merely just ways for me to stay involved with apple growing. Being with apples, for whatever reason, is as important to me as my relationships with people. The trees offer me something people can't (and vica versa, of course.)
I started writing this blog ten years ago but posts have dropped off in recent years as I got into "serious" writing. Now I see it's been almost a year since my last entry. This delay isn't because I haven't wanted to write brief "diary posts" but it's because I've applied my OCD/ addictive personality to longer-developed, heavily edited, writings. I'm obsessed with a need to "complete" my thoughts, which often means tying my concepts to bigger and more diverse topics. But there is something majestic about simple statements and I need to remember that the art of writing should incorporate these unloaded , quick comments too. What a simple concept that is!
So to that end, let me get on with blurting that after a year of heavy "professional" writing I have landed in a post-book depression. It feels like I've lost my purpose. I know that something will eventually lift me out of this but in the meantime I'm eternally grateful that apple trees are out there waiting for me. I love pruning apple trees in the winter like nothing else. And I know not one orchardist who does not share this passion above all other apple related-tasks! Pity the cider maker who does not personally tend the trees! And for me, right now, this winter pruning has taken on a Voltaire-like importance. Just shut-up and stop thinking: Go out and spend quality time with them. Its what cider (and my stupid ramblings) are all about. It's what they've ALWAYS been about.
