The Loss of a Dream (Day 2 from an untitled collection)
I would like you to walk with me for a minute through a pecan orchard. Preparing for the harvest begins as early as spring and continues through summer. All the fallen branches need to be removed, the grounds mowed and kept up, and the brush piles burned; so that the orchard will be free from debris when the shaker is brought in for the harvesting. The shaker has an arm with a very large clamp on the end that fits around the trunk of the tree, once it clamped on it begins to violently shake the tree causing the pecans to rain down like a hail storm. This shaking process can take place at two different times during the harvesting season; once during the early fall while the tree has not shed all its leaves, the other during the latter part of the fall seasons when the tree is barren of the majority of its leaves with the pecans shucks have opened after the first freeze. When the shanking is over and the pecans have been harvested, looking...