The Apple Tree
I grew up on a gentleman’s farm, which sounds quite elegant. We had 40 acres of rolling hills, fields, and a stream that ran through the property. On top of the hill was superb farmhouse built in 1832, the finest house in the region. The previous owners had consciously not maintained it for 40 years, which was why my dad – a carpenter – could afford it.
Gentleman’s farm sort of means you own the farm, you live on it, you don’t have to grow vegetables or keep chickens, sheep, or cows. We did, however, have two apple trees out in back of the barn: a tall tree that that had red apples, and a short tree that had golden delicious apples.
As a five year old, I was proud of our apple orchard and spent a lot of time up in the branches of the red apple tree. I spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about apples, the flowering in the spring, bees pollinating, apples that grew green then turned red in the fall, the smell of apples, the tart taste, then apples would fall from the tree. That a tree could produce something edible always seemed like pure magic to me.
This is a big apple-shaped circle within a crescent moon, 37mm, just shy of an American silver dollar at 38mm. The apple tree is leafed out in natural nuggets of gold, with a scattering of nugget gold beneath the tree for field grass. The sky and hills in the distance are silver.
There is motherhood and apple pie. This is the tree that provides the apples that mother will use to make the pie.
Care Instructions
To Polish Rim of Pendant: Use the eraser end of a pencil and carefully move the pencil with light pressure along the top rim a couple of times. This will return the sterling silver to its shine.