Good For What Ails You

Our little family has been under a little bit of stress lately but one of the things that seems to help me feel better every time I feel a little toxic, is yard work. I put on my Muck Boots for the first time today. If you click on the link you will be directed to the most awesome garden shoes EVER! I was introduced to these during my brief foray into manual labor one summer when I worked on a perennial farm. Great shoes for yard work. You can do anything in these. I'm always a little nervous about sliding my feet into my shoes at the start of the season. They've been sitting in the garage all winter and I always peek inside to check for spiders. It's usually too dark inside of my shoes to see much so I carefully slide my foot in and hope for the best. Not feeling any immediate bites or stings, I set out to work feeling like I can do anything. They're like magic shoes.

Today I worked on our vegetable garden. It's a reasonably-sized plot that once contained what must have been a large tree judging by the size of the stump left behind. The lawn has been gradually encroaching on it for several years and last year we neglected things and let the weeds take over. Our rototiller is currently broken but I want to plant vegetables and I'm not very patient. So I've been taking matters into my own hands. I love swinging the hoe and chopping through tough weeds and patches of grass. With every swing, I feel stronger, braver, more empowered. Then sun warms my neck and I discover buried treasure. When you remove the sandy, weedy top layer of dirt, you find all this lovely, dark, sweet-smelling soil. Then comes the rake. Smoothing and tidying, picking out the remaining weeds and roots, plucking the small rocks and stones out like little prizes, evidence of my labors. Using hand tools is profoundly satisfying... and exhausting.

All the while, Jane is wandering around singing made-up nonsense songs and collecting all the little rocks I find. Josh is digging with his Tonka trucks in the moist soil and asking if he can swing the hoe a few times. I let him because I want him to love the earth too. Jason is roaming the yard doing man chores like wrestling the lawn mower. We are doing different things but we are together, in the fresh air. And we are going to be okay.