Something Good

Hold on to what is good even if it is a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe even if it is a tree which stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do even if it is a long way from here
Hold on to life even when it is easier letting go.
Hold on to my hand even when I have gone away from you.

Pueblo Blessing


I just love this quote and the first line is my favorite,
“Hold on to what is good even if it is a handful of earth.”

I held lots of earth today and I remembered this quote, because to me it is so potent. No matter what seems wrong in my life, no matter how depressed I feel, I can go outside and I can bend down and I can pick up a handful of earth and I can know that it IS GOOD. Well depending on where I bend maybe I can pick up a handful of dirt for you see I live in an area where the natural earth is clay.

Though this type of soil can be a problem in its original state, still it is good for lots of things. Our southeastern Ohio forests thrive on it. It is good for making pottery and many pottery makers became successful here. Our state tree, the Ohio Buckeye is well suited to this heavy soil. As children we enjoyed our clay soil, making many a fine mud pie.

But every gardener knows that vegetable and most flower plants grow best in a fertile, well-drained soil of loamy texture. Clay earth glumps together, you cannot just walk out and pick up a handful of soil after a rain, it is compacted, sticky and if you manage to dig some up it is sticky, glues together. This type of dirt becomes compacted with moisture and doesn’t drain well.

So working up the soil is a must if you want to grow anything but forests or wild weeds. We add manure, leaves and all sorts of organic matter to our earth here constantly.I have been mulching the paths in my Lemuria garden for years. ( this is the garden behind the blue door.) Today I went out there and came to the conclusion that although I have been adding organic matter to the clay soil in the beds, my best soil was in the paths beneath my feet, where the bark mulch has broken down through the years.

Is there something to be discovered behind this irony of my best soil developing on my paths and not in my flower beds? I haven’t figured that out yet, but I spent a good amount of time retrieving this soil and putting it aside to save for a new bed. It was so rich and black and fine! Ah! Good dirt! Then I redid my paths, I had lots of pine needles that have fallen from the white pines, they are now a golden brown so I covered the paths with these. And then for a long time I just sat there, my big bucket of dirt filtering through my hands and I held onto something good, something really, really good.