our backyard is a gold mine

About two weeks ago, I wrote about how surprised we were to discover an apricot tree in our backyard. It had started to bloom beautiful pink and white flowers and then we saw a few wrinkly pits from last year. At first we thought it was a plum tree till our neighbor told us otherwise. Now the flowers have given way to gorgeous green pits.

It was kind of odd that we didn’t know that we had a big fruit tree, but we moved here in November when the trees were hibernating for the cold winter nights. I was giddy when we made the discovery. (Hey, I’ve lived in big cities the past 15 years — this country living is new to me.)

And then we made another discovery last week. My mother-in-law was taking a tour of the backyard. And she said, “Look at this! I think it’s a peach tree.” (It’s a small tree, behind the apricot tree.) It has long leaves and fuzzy pits that perfectly match pictures of budding peach trees.

She also pointed out a lilac bush in full bloom and three grape plants wrapped around wire trellises.

There are two other as-yet unidentified trees with pits growing on them. Based on the leaves shooting out the end of the branches, our best guess is one is a fig tree. (I spent about a half hour on a website comparing photos of the leaves.)

Pomegranates! Apricots! Peaches! Grapes! Figs!

I feel like I stepped into a gold mine. Really.  I’m so freaking giddy that we have all of this fruit right in our backyard and our landlord pays for the gardening. I’m already starting to think about creative ways to use them. Desserts, dried fruit, smoothies … what else?

In my pure happiness, I told my MIL: “I’m never going to want to leave.”

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