SPRING HILL
CITUS ROOTS

Sunlit grove where palms meet grass
The land that remembers the grove before the first root.

THE OLD GROVE

Back in the day, my daddy took me out past the last fence line where the soil still held the ghost of the citrus groves. He said, "Son, this ain't dirt. This is a ledger."

We stood there in the heat, the air thick with phantom oranges, and he pressed his thumb into the red clay. "They dug these wells deep enough to drink from Mars," he said. "And we'll plant our first tree in the very same hole."

SUMMER CYCLE — 14 WEEKS OR LESS

ROOTSTOCKGRAFT DATEFIRST FRUIT
Mars-7 Key Lime2026-07-162026-10-03
Sunnyslope Navel2026-07-162026-11-14
Florida Temple Tank2026-07-162026-12-22

THE FIRST CUT

I remember the sound of the knife against the bark. Not a scrape. A kiss.

"Listen," daddy whispered. "That's the sap singing."

Now I stand on the porch at Spring Hill, watchin' the first star catch fire, and I know we're graftin' the same tree.

We do not launch until the final ledger matches.
Earth roots first. 14-week cycles or not,
the old ways hold.