Apples from the courtyard

I was sitting on the train today and thought about the apple tree at my parents’ place. They live in a typical apartment building from around 1900 with a closed courtyard, and in the middle of that courtyard is an apple tree.

Every fall the first overripe apples would drop. My mom turned them into apple pie and later into baked apples for Christmas. The tree always produced more fruit than the whole house could use. No one looked after it. Rain was enough. No chemicals, no pruning, and still it kept giving.

Thinking about it made me imagine a world where every apartment building had one or two fruit trees for the residents. Free local fruit. A way to notice the seasons. I wish my place had something like that.