The Family Orchard: A Novel (Vintage International)

by Nomi Eve

  A saw is of course essential. On a regular basis an orchard worker will use several different kinds. Most useful is a standard all-purpose sharp-toothed saw. This is definitely needed for cutting through trunks. But for slicing off branches one usually uses a more slender, more knifelike saw that cuts well and can fit more easily into narrow, hard-to-reach spots.

  A shovel will be used for digging all holes. But once a grove is planted the shovel becomes less necessary—though, of course, must always be available.

  Harkavot, Grafts

  There are three kinds of harkavot, or grafts:

  Ayin (eye) graft

  Temech (support) graft

  Rosh (head) graft

  In Shachar, over the course of fifty years, we used the three different grafts in succession in order to prolong the life of the trees, and to make the groves more marketable, by changing variety without sacrificing the growing strength of the established plantings.

  Harkavat Ayin, Eye Graft

  In the early 1930s they planted the sweet-lime rootstock in Shachar and then a year later they grafted onto them Jaffa oranges. They used the ayin, or eye technique. For the ayin technique, you take a young sapling branch from the variety that you want to graft—in this case, Jaffa oranges. The branches should be about half an inch in diameter; they look like long whips. The color is usually light-green, as opposed to the dark green-gray color of older branches. Grafting is cloning, not a sexual flower multiplication. What you are looking for on the sapling are a group of embryonic cells. You need very young branches with very young cells. At the base of each leaf on the young branches is a little hump in the skin. In Hebrew we call this hump the ayin, or eye. It is made of embryonic cells—cells that do not yet have an assigned function and under the correct conditions can grow to be almost any portion of the tree. This little hump is what we want to attach to the rootstock. Cutting it without damaging it is the most challenging act of the entire grafting process. With pruning shears you cut a wedge in the skin around the base of the leaf and the hump. Then with a grafting knife you cut a piece of the skin in the shape of an arrow and you lift it off the little branch that you want to clone. The arrow should be about an inch or a bit longer in length and a quarter of an inch in width. On the rootstock, you cut an upside down T. What you need to do is very carefully loosen the skin from the branch with the “spoon” of the grafting knife. It is as if you are opening up its lips in order to slide the wedge of the graft into it. Then you cut the bottom of the wedge so that it fits exactly into the T. In the old days, what used to happen next was that the grafter would go ahead to another tree while a woman would follow the grafter and tie his grafts with rafia. Rafia is from a plant, maybe a bit like papyrus; it is like a natural tape (they make baskets out of it). They used to measure the quality of the grafter in two ways. First, clearly by the outcome, that is, how many of the grafts actually took. And second, by how many women had to go after the grafter to do the binding. My father was a pro, he had four women going after him, they never caught up with him. Nowadays, they don’t use rafia anymore, but plastic tape. And the grafter does it himself—he wraps tape around the cut so that it is bound airtight, leaving only the hump exposed.

  Within several weeks the young branches and leaves begin to grow from the hump. After about six months you can cut the branch of the rootstock above this new growth. Over time, the rootstock stump will melt into the graft—it will not grow behind it. That is how you create a mature, good-bearing tree using the ayin technique.

  Harkavat Temech, Support Grafts

  The next technique is the temech, or support graft. It is the most interesting, and really craziest of all the grafts, but also very common. You use it to actually change the rootstock. In the midfifties, in Shachar, my father and the other pardesanim predicted that the limeta roots on their Jaffa oranges had only about another twenty years to go. So what they did, in order to increase the life span of the trees, was to literally replace the roots. A citrus tree generally has a tiny trunk—no more than a foot or so high and several very thick branches that come out of the trunk like fingers. What you are doing with a temech graft is turning those five branches into the trunks of new subsidiary trees.

  First, you take year-old choushchash rootstock seedlings. The choushchash should be about a half inch in diameter. Then you run under the tree with a hose of water—this is to determine the best places to plant. What you are looking for are spots in between the original roots of the tree. Using the water, dig holes and plant seedlings. For each of the branches you should plant one seedling. Slice open the tops of the seedlings. Next, open little rectangular windows in the skins of each of the Jaffa orange branches. Match the seedling wounds with the rectangular windows in the branches. Secure the grafts with very thin nails and a sealer. Be careful—you don’t want to crack the seedlings when you put the nail through. The seedlings should grow diagonally from the main tree to the ground, like the slope of a triangle. You want to make sure that you don’t bend the seedling—you must have a natural flow. If you plant it too low the rootstock will bend and not take.

  If a tree has five main branches then you plant five temech grafts. Eventually, the branches will get wider and wider and the grafts will heal. You can sever the attachments between the five new “trunks” and the original trunk directly below the grafts. In time, the original trunk will shrink and die, while the new trunks, anchored and nourished by the young roots, will quickly grow thicker than the original. If the root grafts are successfully planted they will take over the main roots, anchoring the new sister trees in place for another fifty years. The upper branches of these sisters are entwined and generally inseparable, as they were once part of the same tree.

  I discovered the trick with water on my own. There are so many roots next to the established tree that you won’t easily find a place to plant the temech. With the water, I would find room between the roots. Otherwise, you will kill your fingers digging to find the right spot.

  Harkavot Rosh, Head Graft

  Using this graft, you do the opposite of temech. Instead of replacing the roots, you are replacing the trunk. This would be useful on an old grove of large trees whose trunks are quite thick and whose roots are still good. You cut down the tree—say, one or two feet above the ground—by making a horizontal (very flat) cut. Carefully separate the bark from the tree and stick in very young branches of the varieties that you want to grow. These branches should be very thin. Before you insert them, you cut the bottoms of the branches as if you are sharpening a pencil into pointy tips.

  My father used this technique to rejuvenate his orchard in the last decade of his own life. The Jaffa oranges went out of favor in the 1980s. The international market practically stopped. So my father cut down the Jaffa oranges. He left only the rootstock—the choushchash that I planted in the fifties. On top of it he grafted mineola mandarins. This created a grove of trees that grew very fast because of the mature second-generation roots. In only three years they became full trees. Oh, they were something else! Because of the previous graft—the temech— they were like four or five trees in a cluster, and because of the new graft—the rosh—their branches were beautifully new but also very strong and fruitful. Agriculturalists, farmers, professors, even government officials came from all over Israel to see this beautiful young/old grove. The very last work I did with my father in the orchard was caring for these mineola trees.

  Chazirim, Pigs or Thorns

  The rootstock occasionally sends up wild branches. They project from the earth at the base of the tree. In Hebrew they are called chazirim, pigs. The reason this happens is that they always have some young embryonic cells—even though they are roots—and these cells try to grow into regular trees.

  Typically, the branches that come up from the roots are much more thorny than the regular branches. And if they would be permitted to bear they would bear wild oranges. The thorns are really huge and quite dangerous. Sometimes they come up from the ground a
t some distance from the trunk of the tree.

  Etz Kaphool, a Double Tree

  In order to make a double tree, you really have two options:

  Harkavat ayin (eye graft) or

  Harkavat rosh (head graft)

  If you choose to make your double tree with the ayin graft then what you do is graft different varieties of citrus branches onto the one-year-old rootstock. If you choose to use the rosh graft, you insert different varieties of citrus branches in between the bark and wood of the trunk that you have cut down to one or two feet in height. With either technique you can easily make double or triple or even quadruple trees. Also, it is important to remember that a double tree is not kosher. According to Jewish law, you aren’t supposed to mix varieties. So while the rest of our orchard’s fruit is harvested for sale, we always save the fruit of the double tree for ourselves and our friends.

  Hadarim, Citrus: Origin

  Citrus fruit is native to the southern regions of China, where the tree has been nurtured for thousands of years. In German the fruit is called Apfelsine (“apple of China”). Citrus is a subtropical tree that cannot survive below freezing temperatures. It seems that the fruit was carried out of ancient China as seeds, mostly by sailors. And so it spread to Southeast Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Middle East. The etrog (citron), choushchash (sour orange), and the lemon existed in Israel during the Second Temple period. The Arabs, conquering the Mediterranean basin in the 600s, brought citrus trees to all of the basin countries, especially Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, and the rest of North Africa and Spain. The Spaniards brought citrus into the New World.

  Citrus fruit became popular because of its numerous attributes. The trees are very decorative and green year-round and while the tree blossoms, it is always very beautiful. The flowers give wonderful perfume (the fruit and leaves too), and its nutritional value is well recognized. Sailors used citrus against scurvy (they especially used lemons). This probably explains the success of the citrus in South Africa, because the Cape of Good Hope was an important stopover for expeditions in those days.

  Citrus Varieties

  All the citrus varieties are part of the very same species. This is the reason that you can graft them onto each other without rejections. The varieties can be divided in two large groups: those that are commercially grown for consumption, and those that are rootstocks. Rootstocks have all kinds of advantages under varied soil, weather, disease conditions. But the fruit of rootstock is never tasty enough.

  The commercial category can be divided into four main fruit groups: oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruit.

  Oranges

  Among the most famous orange varieties are: navel, Jaffa, Valencia, shamouti, blood (Sanguinelli).

  Mandarins (or Tangerines in the United States)

  Among the most famous mandarin varieties are: satsuma, clementine, michal, tangelo, nova, Murcott, Dancy, mineola, and Yosefefendi (Lord Joseph in Arabic).

  Grapefruit

  Here is an interesting fact about grapefruit. On the tree, the fruit grows in clusters, like grapes. That is why it is called grapefruit (eshkolit in Hebrew; eshkol is a cluster of grapes). Among the most interesting grapefruit varieties are the pummelo and the pummelite. The pummelo is extremely large and heavy with a very thick skin. It is often used to make jelly. The fruit itself is very meaty. The pummelite is a recent development. It is a mix of grapefruit and a pummelo that was developed in Israel. It is smaller than the pummelo and has a much thinner skin, like the grapefruit.

  Lemons

  The lemon is a unique variety since it can be made to bear fruit year round. In this case, you have the flowers, very small lemons, and large ripe lemons on the tree at the same time. The lemon varieties usually have thorns that can be very painful.

  The Ripening Season

  The citrus season in the Northern Hemisphere starts in September and continues to the early summer. Each variety has a season of about two to three months. The satsuma ripens in late September. Clementines are also in late September. Michal ripens in October. Nova and Murcott are a bit later—November. The navel orange ripens from October to November. Jaffa ripens from late November to January. Valencia (also called late oranges) ripen in April. The lemon season is also at the beginning of the fall, but it is a longer season, and as I said some lemons can give fruit all year long (the summer crop is smaller). The grapefruit has the longest season—from November until the late spring.

  Marketing

  Originally, the mandarins were not exported since they are smaller with a thin skin and very short shelf life. Today, with much faster shipping facilities (faster vessels, even air-conditioned, and even via air), more and more of the mandarin varieties have become popular for export. This has been especially true since new seedless varieties were developed (like michal or the Spanish seedless clementines). Oranges, lemons, and grapefruit have always been exported as well as sold on the domestic market.

  Many (or most of) the citrus varieties are ripe and very tasty while their skin is still very green. Shipping, and exporting the fruit while it is still green, will give it a longer shelf life, but the consumer does not tend to buy it if it is green. People assume that green oranges cannot be ripe. This is why artificial methods have been developed in order to turn green ripe fruit orange.

  One More Interesting Fact

  The word for citrus, hadar, in Hebrew means splendor or glory. The biblical “Pri Etz Hadar” (fruit of the goodly tree) is the etrog or citron in English. Citrus is mentioned (I believe) once in the Bible, in Leviticus 23:40, “And you shall take you on the first day the fruit of the goodly trees. . . .”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I would not have been able to write this book had my father not devoted himself to exploring our family history. My writing grows from the soil of his passionate research. For every word, and for every page, I am so grateful to my father, and appreciative of his work. Also, in every stage of this writing, both my mother and my father helped me with my research. They constantly answered questions on big, small, and rather esoteric points, and they also hunted down resources for me. I am so thankful.

  For many years, I lived in this book. Of course, while this arrangement worked very well for my prose, it was often hard on my wallet. I have many people to thank for supporting me in various ways while I devoted myself solely to my writing. I am indebted to my parents: my mother, Rita Rosen Poley; my late stepfather, Arthur Poley; my father, Dr. Yehoshua Buch; and my stepmother, Debbie Fay Buch.

  A laptop doesn’t do a very good job of keeping out the elements. Many people opened their doors to me, and let me set up my life in their houses and hearts, as well as my computer on their kitchen tables. In the United States, I am forever indebted to Burt, Joan, Abby, Max, and Zach Horn; Nancy and Greg Vorbach; Sue Sherr; Sue Standing; Sandy Bodzin and Shoshana Gross; Ora Pearlstein; Mindy Gellman; Margo Borden; Lisa Padalino (dance teacher extraordinaire); Monica Wood; Peri Buch; Ida and Sam Rosen; Bernice and Harold Horn; Marty and Shelly Rosen; Bruce Rosen; Lauren Rosen; Nelson and Jeanne Rosen; Ivan, Lynn, Jennifer, Danielle, and Adam Horn; Phyllis, Earl, and Charles Epstein; and the Poley, Hyman, Hagman, and Saunders families. I also want to thank Andy and Karen Schloss—Karen designed the original version of the family tree that runs throughout the book.

  In Israel, I am so grateful to Rivka Buch; Merav, Michal, and Orna Buch; Udi Buch; Noadia Heldig; Aviva Pele and Jochanan Mintzker; Ahoova Shnek; Eti Peleg; Lon Pele; Menacham, Dalia, Alex, and Eli Kaplan; Nadav, Orli, Noa, Dana and Micha Kaplan; Eli Buch, and the entire extended Buch family; Dr. Avraham Shaked; Jessica Steinberg; Alan, Eli, and Missy Stein Goldman; Harold Messinger; Yoni Gordis; Arie, Maya, Daniele, and Roee Ofir; Yael and Nissim Dahan, Arik and Michal Kaplan, Tami and David Politi, and all of their wonderful children.

  I must thank my dear Aleister, whom I visited for a weekend and never left.

  I am forever grateful to my teachers, Paul West and John Moore.

  I would also like to thank
the MacDowell Colony and my dear fellow colonists. During my residencies at MacDowell I wrote crucial parts of this novel. Also, I am grateful to the following people for publishing pieces of this book along the way: M. Mark, Van Brock, Susan Burmeister-Brown, and Linda Burmeister-Davies.

  And I would like to thank the people who helped my book find its home. I am so grateful for Danzy Senna, Amanda Urban, Jordan Pavlin, Sonny Mehta, and Marty Asher. Thanks also go to Vrinda Condillac, who so kindly and patiently took care of business.