Go to the middle of nowhere, turn south six miles, and you’ll find this abandoned house with an apple tree right beside it that is loaded with apples!!

The house was probably built 1890 – 1915 when the mining, ranching, railroad activities were in the area.  All that’s gone now.  Even the house is barely standing.  But even after all this time, and whoever lived in this house has long gone, there is still an apple tree hanging on,……. and keeping on doing it’s thing.

I found this abandoned homestead while out hiking and fishing.  I’m always curious how these old timers lived.  Was he a miner?  Work for the railroad that was close by?  Was he married to a “pioneer woman” like I am?  Don’t know for sure, but for sure I know this.  He planted an apple tree for future use.  Maybe he planted the tree as a gift for his wife and children.  Don’t know, all I know is he planted.

Now, I will be getting the benefit from his work of long ago.  See, there are a ton of pretty red apples on the ground as well as still hanging on the limbs.  There is a big ole bag in my truck…… now that big ole bag is filled with delicious fresh hand picked apples.

Whoooweee!!!  That’s a good tasting apple right there!  Ate four of ’em on the way home!  But there’s more work to be done with these apples so that they can be enjoyed for more than just today.

Yep, time to make the jelly.  It’s pretty easy to do.  The main most important thing is to cook this, and have the jelly in jars, and clean up the kitchen, all before Staci gets back from Walmart.  Mission accomplished!

That’s what I’m talking about right there!  Fresh homemade apple jelly made from fresh picked apples picked from Mr Pioneer and Ms Pioneer Woman’s front yard!  Thanks you Sir and Ma’m.  I raise a glass of milk and shout out a toast in honor of them as I eat my biscuit.

 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.  Matthew 7:17-20

As I get a second helping of breakfast with JELLY, it dawns on me that I too am a pioneer man as well.  This log home that Staci and I have built will last a long time.  Hopefully with a little maintenance, a long, long, long time.  But there will be something that outlives it, and outlasts it.  My own “apple tree”.  The fruits that will come from the people (like you) that experience this place.

The “fruit trees” that’s been planted here are these:  A tree of love, a tree of experiencing God, a tree of becoming more of what God’s created you to be.  That’s a pretty good orchard right there!!

What about this?  As you strive day by day to keep the home fires burning, as you work everyday to maintain your homestead, as you live your everyday life,……… have you “planted an apple tree” for you and your family to enjoy the spiritual fruits from your deeds?  Maybe some stranger might even come along a hundred years later and enjoy some of the “fruits” that were made possible by what you’ve done.

God has blessed each of us in so many ways.  One way we can share these blessings is by “planting the apple tree” so that others may share.  You’ll get the rewards from your share of the fruit.  But now others will get a taste of what you’ve been living!

See Ya!   Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher