When I returned to Croatia, I didn’t just come back, I began again. One of the first things I did was plant 18 fruit trees. Two years later, I added 18 more. Today, I tend to 36: quince, apple, plum, pear, cherry, peach, Nashi pear, and more.
It takes about three years for most trees to bear fruit, and even then, they do so on their own schedule. The quince came first, they seem to love this land, followed by the Nashi pears, apples, and now, finally… peaches.
This summer, five years after planting, I picked six peaches from one tree. Not bushels, not baskets. Just six. And somehow, that made it sweeter. I left three still ripening on the branch, a small offering back to the tree that finally gave.
Other trees still hold back. This year, the apricots haven’t even flowered. Cherries are shy. A few plums appeared last year, but not this one. It’s as if the garden decides, year by year, what it’s ready to give.
I’ve also planted berries: blackberries thrive (I'll make jam), raspberries do well too. Blueberries gave fruit once but have been stubborn since, even in acidic soil. Grapes, however, have taken off this year. Small, sweet, and plentiful.
Each season, I plant a vegetable garden: lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, string beans. This year, I tried bok choy, but I suspect it prefers an earlier spring or cooler fall to flourish.
Some of these efforts have felt like experiments. Others, like quiet devotion. This garden has taught me patience, surrender, and the joy of watching something take root and bear fruit.
From Boca Raton to this patch of Croatian soil, I never imagined I’d be growing anything beyond flowers. And yet here I am, experimenting, learning, and tending to fruit trees that grow more out of instinct than tradition. Some bear fruit right from the trunk. Others, like the Nashi pear, no one around here has even heard of.
But I love it all. Not just the harvests, but the tending. The quiet joy of stretching my legs between hours at the computer. The sense that, somehow, this unexpected chapter is exactly where I’m meant to be.