Peaches
Black-and-white sketch of my peach tree leaves and fruit, layered and dense this September
When Fruit Teaches About Transformation
Gardening, like life and work, demands perseverance. There are sprints and there are marathons — to thrive, you must excel at both.
Seasonal vegetables give me quick wins; fruit trees demand patience and faith.
The Long Wait
Ten years ago, I planted a dwarf peach tree — a grafted twig that arrived in the mail, barely more than hope tied to rootstock. I moved it twice to protect it from deer and groundhogs, and then I waited.
It was five years before it gave me anything more than blossoms. Even then, just a peach or two — usually snatched by wildlife before I could taste it.
Lessons in Loss
When the blossoms finally came in abundance, I thought I had done it. The tree was full of promise. But the fruit dropped before it ripened.
The next year, I learned to thin the peaches, following advice from YouTube gardeners: fewer peaches, more strength. It worked — the fruit began to grow to size — and then overnight, the tree was stripped bare, ravaged by unseen visitors.
The fence I had built around my garden — eight feet high, sunk two feet into the ground with rock and netting — had not been enough.
Protected, at Last
This year I tried again, but differently. I wrapped the tree in a translucent fabric sleeve, pinning it closed with oversized safety pins so that no chipmunk, squirrel, or thief could breach it.
Now the tree is heavy with peaches — glorious, sunlit, protected, still fragile but finally mine to share.
From Gardens to Institutions
The long races in life require a similar approach:
Figuring out what you did right.
Being honest about what you got wrong.
Re-jigging, accepting defeat with grace, taking the lessons forward.
Some projects are marathons. Cultural institutions like Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and Langson IMCA evolve over a decade, requiring tenacity from their stewards. The process is long, but sustaining progress along the way — with shorter, winnable projects — prevents burnout and keeps teams engaged.