Jason's Jive June 2025

I was in Beltsville for a few days earlier this month. Flew on Southwest Airlines for the first time ever and I had a nice experience, from check-in to take off and landing. It was so nice to be back home. I drove around – went to Wawa for my famous coffee and a small cup of soup. (They need to open up shop in Texas).

Drove around and was surprised to see a few more changes that I had no idea about --- the Wawa next to IKEA on Route 1, the Ross Dress For Less next to Shoppers and more. 

Recently, we had a tornado warning. I live in apparently what appears to be a tornado alley. I got scared when the lights went out while I was inside Walmart shopping.  Power came back but the sound outside was frightening.  I called home and my family had taken shelter in a closet. Also checked on my next-door neighbor, a single mother --- she and her son had also taken cover in a closet.  The storm eventually passed, and I drove home in the rain, tornado sirens going off in the distance. Sadly, a home caught fire – photos circulated of a burning house in a new development. It apparently had been struck by lightning. The wonders of nature continue to amaze me.

Talking about nature, I am home from work for a few days. I have spent the time trying to work on my lawn at home, planting grass seeds and watering it so that hopefully I can get my lawn looking good again. The heat of last year did a number on the lawn, creating a few dead spots for me.

I was able to cut down a dead tree in my backyard, using a machete. I have planted an apple tree in its space. I went on to plant a peach tree also, so now I have two fruit trees. Next plan is to plant an avocado tree and an orange tree. Hopefully in a few years I will have fruit bearing trees.  I really wish more of us would plant fruit trees. Ornamental trees are nice, but fruit trees also carry other benefits. My birthday is towards the end of this month and my new resolve is to plant a fruit tree somewhere --- at work (if they allow) or at home. Last year at work, we planted some fruit trees for Father’s Day – apricots, peach, apple and I don’t remember the last two.

Let me challenge you this month and it is not too late to do so. Memorial Day has just passed. Plant a tree somewhere and leave a footprint on earth. I lived in front of a popular gym when I lived in St. Kitts.  Many days I would come home to meet cars parked on my front lawn and I did not like it, so what I did was to get some plants – I have no recollection of where I got them from, but I planted them in the front. That was in 2007. They grew and so people stopped parking on my lawn out of respect for the plants. However, the plants grew into trees and close friends would take pictures of the growing trees to send to me. I visited St. Kitts March 2024 for the first time in 15 years and my younger brother who still lives there, picked me at the airport and one of the first things he did was to take me to see my tree. It was so nice to see a big tree that had grown from a little plant. Now imagine if that had been a fruit tree, a lot of people would have been able to benefit from it. I forgot to mention that we also planted lemon grass trees at work. So non-coffee drinkers can get access to real herbal tea. Lemon grass holds up good in winter --- it will dry out and when it snows you can cover it down. There is nothing more refreshing than a glass of hot lemon grass tea or for the iced tea crowd, have it cold and you can put a cinnamon stick in it.

Well, hopefully this little piece motivates you to do a little gardening for the summer. Plant a tree at church, school or even for significant family events. And you don’t need a green thumb to be able to do this. Next excuse, time! It takes less that ten minutes to put a plant in the ground – by the way I mean ten Beltsville minutes. (my attempt at a little humor).

Behnke’s Nursery closed down – well Walmart, Home Depot and Lowes are in the agricultural business still. So please plant a tree this month of June and spread the joy of giving. Plants/Trees make perfect birthday and anniversary gifts. Start a new family tradition. That’s the Jive!