It is time to recall the fruitfulness of the cashew fruit tree in our garden for the last six months. With the last fruit gathered a few days ago, it was a good time to gather the photos taken during the season and recollect the different stages of the growth of the fruit from the flowering stage. We have an about three kilograms of the cashew nuts ready for sale now. Anna prepared juice from the pup of the fruit for our breakfast drink. The squirrels had good meal time for the last six months. Now the tree looks bare with thick foliage, recovering and hibernating for the next season.
A farmer told me once that it was his habit to feed each plant with something special a few weeks before it was to bear fruit and manure it again after the fruiting season is over. A tree or plant receives the attention of the farmer !
A few hundred photographs of the different stages of fruiting of the cashew, I got familiar with the changes the fruits make each day before it is fully ripe to be plucked. The formative process form being a flower to a fruit spread over about two months was a delight and surprise to watch.
It was an experience which made me feel connected with the cashew tree, because it blossomed to be fruitful for others to feed on!
The tree yields its fruits to be given away!
Parenting is such a fruitful experience to give fully for the formation of children.
Anna and I receive photos of infants and toddlers from some friends, who share with us the joy of parenting which is reflected in the delightful responses and growth process that children manifest !
The fruits in the cashew tree drew me to it most morning during the last six months. Now I shall pass by that tree each day in my walk, and wait for the next season when it shall come back to its fruitful season!
Till then, grateful memories shall linger on !
Anna and I vividly remember planting this tree as a sapling nine years ago. From its third year it was giving us fruits! We pruned it at least three times. It is the tree we used to hang the swing and make a tree house when our six grandchildren from the two families came for a holiday with us along with their parents in October 2025. We made a grass meadow beneath the tree so that we can have a picnic snack time beneath its shade.
There are such joyful experiences associated with the cashew tree in our garden!
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
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