explanations....!

For those of you who think

I am totally mad.

my unwillingness to cut flowers

                                                                                                                         from here

began with a tree, twice the size of this

and a chain like this

hanging from the branches

and a gentle old lady

The tree was an almond tree and it was covered in fruit.

The wonderfully gentle elderly woman reached up

and picked a handful of the dried fruit and

showed me how to discover the nut inside.

Twice, I hit my head on the chains that were hanging

from one of the branches

(rather nasty, rusty old chain with three heavy strands

attached to a ring large enough to put your hand into)

Being the curious type I asked why it was hanging there

"Oh, dear, that's the tree beater"

"The what?"

"The tree beater,

 when we first came here, 50 years ago,

 the tree didn't bear fruit

so after a few years 

my Jack put this chain together for me and each year

I beat the tree, every day for a week, around the trunk,

and it has never failed to produce a crop like this."

Well I did have to ask why,  didn't I?!

The answer was that apparently almond trees

bear more fruit if they are stressed

and beating the trunk with a heavy chain rope

stresses the tree

Now the problem is that I have never forgotten that

and I figure if someone beat me with a chain

I would be stressed to

because

it would hurt!!!!!!

So

the question is

do you think it is possible that plant life might feel pain?

Just in case the answer is yes I no longer 

go on the attack with the secateurs!!!!!

What do you think?

Goodnight