An old orchards experience...
I've participated in reclaiming old orchards
.. sweet cherries, pie cherries, wild black cherries
…. and assorted sordid apples and pears.
Bear still visits here, in season
.. and hovers close elsewhen for skunk cabbage
…. and space and ferns, gophers and grubs..
Black-tail deer help with the pruning,
.. stealing quietly between canes of salmonberry,
…. blackberry and indian plum.
Coyote forages freely, predating windfall,
.. delicately nibbling berries he can reach,
.... terrorizing chipmunks, squirrels and cottontails.
An ancient beast steals occasionally
.. from the ferns and brush surrounding here,
…. once common, sewellel has become rare.
This old orchard yields more than memories
.. for the humans that claim this place,
…. though that too may part of the orchards yield.
--r.anderson 31Jan2011
sewellel -- 1806, Americanism ; Lower Chinook š-walál robe of mountain beaver skins, understood as the animal itself (dictionary.reference.com)
