Farmer Squirrel's Orchard

Do squirrels have green thumbs? The one that lives in the tree behind my house does. I can hear him humming 'We are sowing, daily sowing' through the open window on nice autumn evenings, and in the spring and through the following summer, I see the evidence of his busy agricultural pursuits.


That evidence is filbert seedlings. Tiny hazlenut trees. This critter travels half a block down the alley to the nearest filbert tree and brings home nuts to plant in my flower pots.

Now, I want to tell you that I have tried to sprout at least a dozen avacado pits--you know, stick it with toothpicks and suspend it half in, half out of a glass full of water.

All I got for all that effort was one spindly, anemic plant that I finally put out of its misery. Death by garbage disposal.

Another time, I tried to sprout a coconut. I had a friend who had a wonderful palm growing in her living room. I coveted that palm and even contemplated buying one until I asked how much it cost. I bought a coconut instead, intent on doing what my friend had done: grow my own.

She said I should find one where the eyes were bulging, plant it half in/half out of damp potting soil, put it in a sunny place, and keep it moist.

I got the bulgiest eyed coconut I could, planted it, and dutifully watered it for months. When I finally gave up, it was too big to put down the disposal, so I threw it in the garbage and forgot about it...until I started pulling these little 'weeds' out of my flower pots and found, stuck on a root, a split-apart filbert.

Where did these come from? I finally figured it out one day when I was going into a well-landscaped building and saw a squirrel on the lawn, holding a filbert in his mouth and digging a hole. Sitting close by, by the way, was a crow, salivating as he waited for the squirrel to leave.

Do you think, if I were to plant a dozen filbert nuts in the fall I'd get a dozen seedlings the next spring? Not a chance. But this little squirrel has an amazing success rate. It makes me smile every time I find a seedling, and I give them away when I can talk someone into adopting a 'volunteer' nut tree.

I've left one growing in the pot because I don't want to discourage my little farmer. And besides, it lifts my spirits each time I find a new filbert sprout.

If I still had the farm and enough years left in my life, I'd devote a plot of land to Farmer Squirrel's seedlings and see how big the orchard would get. I might even have him help me with my next try at an avocado pit. Or, maybe I'll leave a coconut lying out in the yard. One with bulgy eyes.

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