Plants....

They make me focus in two ways.  Plants and trees contribute to your lives.  They give us a reason to dig in the dirt.  Dirt digging helps me to examine the medium with all of its components and ingredients.  I never really understood dirt until I began to see what I could make grow out of it.  

My Grandfathers were master gardeners.   They prided themselves on what they could make come out of the dirt.  The passed the love on to my parents who passed it on to me.   

It is not something that was passed on more by osmosis than by real instruction.  The teaching did not come from any formal instruction.  It came from observation and lots of complaining.

"But I don't want to spread manure and straw on the ground."

" I don't want to weed and thin the carrots."

" I don't want to cut the potatoes up in to quarters so the cuts can cure." 

"Do I have to put clothspins on all of the cauliflower heads?"

"Peat moss, dug into all the beds AND all the old buds taken off the petunias!"

I never thought of these as teaching moments but in hindsight they most certainly were.  When I arrived at Dietrich, Idaho for my first teaching job, I began the process of adding peat moss and finding other sorts of things to make the dirt better.  Fall planting, spring planting, bud picking, cauliflower head pinning. Tree planting, bulb planting, garden bed making, tomato staking, potato digging. 

This spring I was lucking enough to be able to do lots of digging and planting and weeding in my garden.  Planting, pruning, plucking and moving plants around.  As I dig, and augment the soil, change the old dirt and adding new things to make the old dirt better, it has given me a chance to shift my focus from the past winter to what is going on to the future.  The new flowers and plants are beginning to grow.   The old reliable ones are beginning to do their job. 

There is something about the work, the repetitive nature of the planting and weeding.  The transformation that is imperceptible at first but when it finally happens and the growth starts, the magic happens and nature takes over.

Part of my work in the dirt has given me some time to reflect on what has happened during our last few months.  A bit of this, a bit of that and some time and a new immune system is planted and growing.  It just takes time. Time to let the changes happen.  Time to absorb the necessary strength from the soil.  Time.   Time.  Time.....

Tonight I will soak some of the famous Scarlett Runner Beans.   They will go in the tomorrow. We shall see when they make their first appearence.