Patience is one of those personality traits which I don't have in abundance.
I'm more of a fan of instant gratification than slow and steady, but there's one exception: gardening.
Still, when my wife bought me a lemon tree for my birthday last year -- that's 15 months ago -- I knew I'd have sit back and wait to make lemonade. But 15 months is an awful long time to wait for results.
Nurturing a lemon tree in Wisconsin is no easy task. This tropical citrus plant isn't designed for our cold climate, and it takes lots of sun and warmth to keep it growing. Last summer, a few "proto lemons" started to sprout, but they never grew larger than the size of a grape before they wilted and died. Dutifully, I brought my tree into my kitchen over the winter and shined a grow light on it 10 hours every day. Once the weather started warming up, I brought my now 4-foot-tall tree back onto the deck and waited. And waited. And waited some more.
Now, the tree has grown four lemons that are getting close to ripeness. One of the four lemons has sort of snapped off its branch and is rotting, but the other three are getting close. I don't know if and when they'll turn from green to yellow, but every day I look at them and offer them words of encouragement.
I'm hoping that before the first frost arrives, I'll have three edible lemons. I don't know what I'll do with them yet, but lemonade seems like a pretty obvious choice. Maybe next year, my tree will harvest a few more lemons, too. Who knows?
And maybe that's the best part. When it comes time for gardening, I have no choice but to slow down and watch nature take its course.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
