When I finally got that contract in that place, mi world came up instantly. Get a job in the landowner’s house was something truly hard, reserved only for the best workers in this field. There was necessary experience, strength, constancy and a huge working capacity that only the youngest gardeners, but at the same time with the biggest knowledge into caring about plants could offer. I knew I wouldn’t care about food, a roof over my head or expenses for a period of time of, at least, three years, enough time for saving money, pay my bills and put my life in order, that, until that moment, hadn’t gone quite well. Pay was generous, arriving to, practically being three times any other good salary into a similar job in prestigious companies, so, the opportunity was truly unique.
In fact, I was going to have five more gardeners under my orders, four of them younger than me that was going to contribute with strength and at the same time, they’ll gain experience and learning enough for that kind of jobs, and an old man, maybe a seventy years old man, that had spent his entire life in that huge house. Himself would be who, as he did with everyone that had the same workplace before, will explain me everything that I would need to know.
We started so, the six of us, taking a tour around that enormous place. Immediately, I got noticed why I had so many people working with me. Twenty hectares of beautiful gardens decorated the surrounding of the huge house, complemented, at the same time, with a private golf course, a giant swimming pool, stables, and well, anything you can imagine into a property which has these characteristics.
Almost at the end of that tour, which took several hours, we arrived to the crop area, where a big amount of different fruits and vegetables were produced, and at the end of that zone, I could see with astonishment the most awesome plant I've never seen: an enormous, strong and leafy tree, with its leaves into a green tone that seemed being taken from the most beautiful fairy tales. Between its branches, showed shyly some apples, into a precious crimson red colour, intense, perfectly coloured, without any stain or imperfections, and with a radiant shine.
That man, explained, by looking at my stupefaction in view of that tree: “This is Adam, the oldest tree in the entire region. It has been more than a millennium here, and that’s only what its registered. In fact, we don’t know since when it is here, but the owners appreciate it really much, and it produces the most delicious apples you’ve ever tried”. Instantly, he approached to the tree, took one of those apples and extended his hand, offering it to me. I hesitated for a moment but finally took it between my fingers and then to my mouth.
Since the first bite, all it was an explosion of sensations, as I had never felt before, an incredible sweetness, an unbelievable softness but at the same time a firmness typical of one of the highest quality fruits, a refined scent, a true delight for the palate. Never, in my entire life, I had tried anything similar, even the most delicious meals I've ever had couldn’t get compared to the pleasure and happiness that bite gave me. That tree was truly special, and I couldn’t wait to learn the necessary to care it the best way possible.
So, quickly, the years passed, while, eventually, I turned out into an expert into everything that’s needed to carry out my work with the greatest diligence, in order to be able to continue working there.
After three years, finally, the old man explained me that was the moment of apply fertilizer to Adam, the great tree. He told me I had to dig a big hole, at least two meters deep, to arrive to the roots easily and only by shovel, to not to injure them, and I dedicated the next whole day, from the sunrise to the sunset to finish that task. At the end of the day, exhausted, left my shovel aside, looking my finished work, with pride while, at the same time, felt a strong thud that made me fall inside the hole. All what I needed then, to understand what was going on in that moment, was feel a shovelful of ground falling over my head.