Image drawn by Ben Fulton – Enhanced by N.R. Mallery

David Fried

The way it sits there.

The way they all work together as one.

Fluttering

and relaxing to produce energy from the sun.

How does a leaf open? I don’t really know.

I want someone to assure me that it is magic.

All of that energy is stored up all winter in a little ball that barely is affected by the cold.

It is probably not even really there yet, just a scent of it, as a rabbit or deer go after the leaf bud. When the spring rains come, the leaf bud starts to shake and comes alive. After enough warmth, it opens like a butterfly. When everything is leafed out on the hillsides, a soft green light is glowing all over Vermont. After days of sunlight, the leaves turn from very light, soft green to their dark and shinier regular selves.

In high school, I wrote a story about a boy who finds himself inside a leaf. When I grew up I was fascinated by trees and leaves and a lot of my life work is helping others to grow high quality trees and plants. I work inside a world of leaves. I even have tropical fruit trees in my dining room where they keep me surrounded with their leaves during the winter.

One of my favorite things in summer is to look up from the ground, while on my back, through the leaves as the sunlight streams through them.

All the fruits we eat and all the vegetables are only formed because their leaves are turning sunlight into food energy. Then they all turn color and begin to tumble back to cover their roots. This shimmering fullness of contrasts takes my breath away each time.

As you leaf through this publication, think for a minute about what a gift it is to live on a leafy, green planet!

David Fried runs Elmore Roots Fruit Tree and Berry Nursery in northern Vermont.