Scratching the Itch

Some people may find their own seasonal sense of spring celebration in traditional activities such as Pisanki (Icons of the Universe) or the lawn care ritual, or find it sufficient to enjoy the uplifting shout of neighborhood daffodils and forsythia.

Some may find pleasure in the first hanging of the season or even apply the revitalized energy to take the bull by the horns and follow timely advice: "Lighten Up! Free Yourself of Clutter!" Not me.

Personally, I prefer dirt. Outside,thank you, and by the truckfull. Imported and paid for with cash money. I know I am not alone on this. There are others who fantasize (or is it hallucinate?) about earthmoving equipment in the spring, too. In this context, Goddess In My Garden can mean just about anything!

So dump trucks arrive at my house and slump off their loads of composted horse manure and damp mulch, heavy and dark with spring rain. And when that's gone, I head straight to shifting pond scum -- this is as close to spring cleaning as I care to be. And when that's done I trowel into that oxymoronic soilless mix of a potting soil and fill up containers large and small.

Is this almost frantic need to play in the dirt a tie binding us to generations of settled peoples? Is it purely a ritual to celebrate the equinox and solstice, to mark this moving in cycles we feel but don't consciously notice? Or is it simply an earth bound physical process I enjoy? I don't know.

It is mindless.

A friend once likened it to "Zen and the Art of Shoveling". But she too is now a convert to the process, the shoveling and scrunching across a given patch, so methodical, soothing, grounded. Like kneading dough, I suppose.

But "enjoy" is not quite apt. Neither are the New Agey techniques and images like exploring the "Inner Landscape". Think about it. Do you know how much a dump truck can hold or has it been a while since you sat on a curb or peeked through a plywood fence and watched the alternately rumbling and beeping mechanical power of a construction site as they gouge a foundation into the earth? Now consider the lowly shovel.

Nonetheless, moving just so much earth by hand is a necessity in a healthy garden, for the gardener must feed the soil, replenish the ground plain, build from the ground up (or would that be down?).

Go To Page: 1 2