I am at peace with the world. I have finally arrived at a place which feels exactly right - get up in the morning, go and pick mangosteens, pack mangosteens, send mangosteens to market, receive cheque.
Twice a week, at the moment, Digby and I wander the orchard, tree by tree, look up into the canopy, find mangosteens which are purple or starting to turn purple, and pick them with the special picker - a metal contraption on a long bamboo pole. The best way to describe the metal contraption is that it looks like a kings crown - you catch the mangosteen stem between the crown bits and the fruit drops into the little bag attached.
At the moment we are picking 3 laundry baskets every 3 days. Not much compared to what is still green out there and waiting. Soon it will be picking every day.
I look at the fruit in the orchard with new eyes - what else can I pick and send to market? There is a new assessment of all our fruit and a re-alignment of possibilities for making a living at Cape Trib. Maybe fruit can really give us the economic independence, we dreamed of twenty years ago when we started planting the orchard.
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