A couple of months ago, Mister and I let go of our gardener. If you ask Mister, he’ll tell you the primary reason for this is our intention to get rid of our lawn (drought). And though we’ve had this idea for years, our hope is to actually follow through and xeriscape the front lawn this year. If you ask me, I’ll tell you that our gardener (who came with the house) was quite disagreeable. The dude would argue with me when I asked him to do something. For example – one day I told him the grass didn’t really need cutting, as it hadn’t grown since the previous week and that I would prefer he weed the beds instead. He responded by telling me how bad it was for the grass to skip a week of mowing. I said that it was actually good for the root system to skip a week and that the beds really needed weeding. He proceeded to tell me I didn’t know what I was talking about and that grass roots weren’t affected by not mowing and blah, blah, blah.
So anyway, we let him go. And as we haven’t yet gotten around to taking out the grass, it needs tending every few weeks. To that end, I got myself a beautiful reel mower, powered by human force. It does a great job and I get exercise. Bonus!
That problem solved, I still had to contend with another issue: leaves. We have three magnolia trees and as much as I love and romanticize them, the little bastards drop a butt-load of leaves this time of year. So I went out and got myself a good, old-fashioned rake. And yesterday I put it to use.
Here’s the thing – working in the yard or garden is terribly therapeutic. It stills one’s mind and works one’s body. I can see why folks used to look forward to their weekend yard time, long before we all hired kids or gardeners to take care of the outsides of our homes. And I think maybe we gave up something beneficial when we handed off those tasks. I think we all lost a meditative part of life. And that’s too bad.
Now some of you may be thinking that your weekends (or other days off) are far too precious to spend doing yard work. And that may be true – for you. But for me, I find the work to be calming. And I get a sense of self-satisfaction out of finishing some routine maintenance. Though I admit my satisfaction on this go-round will have to wait, as I loaded our green (garden waste) bin to the rim and I didn’t even get half of the leaves in. Oh well.
Best of all, when I’m working in the garden, I don’t have to take three deep breaths and count to ten before I convince me to do what I want done, the way I had to with the gardener. I am much more pliable than he ever was. Thank the gods.