We have three apple trees in the backyard. The front and middle ones we planted one year, and this back one, we planted the next. We’ve never actually been able to eat an apple off of these trees yet. The first year they grew fruit, something stole all of them one night. Every single apple. The second year, the birds got them. I actually looked out and discovered a woodpecker leading the way at poking holes in all the pretty apples we’d been counting on.

This year, as you can see, we have fruit once more. But this tree, the back one, fell over one day. It was windy, rainy. We looked out the kitchen window, and it was lying on its side. My husband propped it up and added some dirt around the base. We went on.

Another week or so, plop. There it went again. It wasn’t broken. Wasn’t damaged. Just wasn’t staying up, for some reason.

My husband rigged up a homemade system of using any stake item and string he could find to help support the tree. We watched, held our breaths a bit. Several of the small limbs had brown leaves. Would it survive? Would the apples?

Another storm came through and down it went again. This time, we’d even replaced the makeshift stake kit with one bought from Home Depot. My husband looked it over, propped it back up, and here we are.

It has apples. It has green leaves as well as the brown. Do we know why it keeps falling over? We’re assuming the roots aren’t deep enough or something. So, we’ve got the cords helping support it. We’re babying it some. And we’re watching these beautiful apples as they start to pink up on one side.

Will we get any fruit? There is no telling.

But the apples still look like hope to us. They represent a possibility. A chance.

Like everything in life, there are risks that it all might fall over. That we might have a few broken limbs or brown leaves. But there might also be apples.

I’m thinking about weaving a few fake snakes among the branches to see if I can keep the birds away this year. Think that will help?

What’s something you’ve taken care of and babied a bit, hoping it would give you some fruit? Any tips for keeping apples alive?