To Protect or Not

Our wild cherry bushes yielded little sweet cherries for the first time this year. We bought them as little plants in gallon containers a few years ago, not knowing what would grow or if we would ever enjoy the cherries. We expected tart tasting little things that we might never eat, not even if we added sweetener and baked them.

But these bushes yielded many of these delights. I’ve picked some and plunked them into my mouth, savoring as I navigated each one’s single pit.

When these red gems first appeared, I wondered about protecting them from the local birds. We are graced by many birds who help themselves to tasty tidbits like the mulberries, and the corn and millet I toss out for the guinea fowl twice a day.

After wondering what I would protect and what I would let go to whomever, I decided not to protect the cherries from the birds, content to taste a few each day and let the wildlife have the rest.

I may have learned something from the fig trees we planted that same year. Last year they produced more plump, sweet figs than I could eat. In March, I did a spring cleaning of the freezer and found several pounds of frozen figs waiting for me. I had started restricting my sweets in January and I felt foolish for having saved so many figs only to add them to the compost pile.

I hope some critters—birds, insects, worms—consumed them. This year I will collect only some of the ripe figs and give them away. The others I will leave for the fig wasps to use as they see fit.