Childhood Reflections

Growing up, there was this wonderful old Hazelnut Tree

up the gravel road from us.

We, my cousins & the neighborhood kids,

would sort of, well, help ourselves.

We cracked the shells between two stones to

get to the tasty nuts.

More than once, I remember painfully missing!

No one seemed to mind,

that we periodically, ‘raided’ the tree.

We thought of it, as ‘our’ tree.

(Was there a tree like that in your neighborhood?)

In fact, I’m not quite sure who the leafy green specimen

actually belonged to.

Maybe it grew wild, carried by the wind.

But it got me thinking…


about that toasted hazelnut

& dried apricot biscotti recipe I have and

fig tarts sprinkled with crushed, toasted hazelnuts…

So, I made room for a Hazelnut Tree of my own.


Late in the bare root season, while at one of

my favorite nurseries, I spotted the distinctive

leaves of my childhood.


There was one tree left and I snapped it up!

It’s planted against the stucco, warmed by the sun.


Not sure if it will yield much this season…

and I’m okay with that.

As usual, for me,

It is as much about the romance

as it is the reaping.

Here’s to the hazelnut!


Do you have room?

Ciao,

Monica