Well, perhaps an exaggeration but nevertheless I hadn’t noticed it before. In my last newsletter I talked about how the leaf fall has changed the way we see and perceive the Forest. About a week ago whilst on a bus between Rhode-Saint-Genèse and Fort Jaco, I saw an apple tree by the side of the Chaussée on the forest side. I had to go back on foot.
I did and I was in for a big surprise.
It was flanked by two medlars (néfliers, mispelbomen).
Here was the hand of humans. The only other medlar I know of (outside my friend Sian’s garden) is on the edge of the former market garden at the Groenendaal Abbey. Apart from two medlars and an apple what other signs of human intervention in the margins of the Forest remained?
There was larch, not native, but grown for timber. There was also a coppiced hazel around 30 years old which fits timewise with the other planting. Someone had edge-poached in the past. Locally we might think ‘Grignotage de forêt’ or ‘Randstroperij’ has taken place.
Go and have a look, it’s on the corner of Drève des Bonniers and the Chaussée.
A ground search revealed nothing and neither any maps I know of showed signs of former buildings.. Does anyone know more about this or was there once a phantom gardener?
A curious fruit, the medlar. I’ll expand tomorrow. Bottom.