landscape | The Shieling

Sweet Cabin

We all know the answer to that. But let’s look a little deeper.

So, when I left the suburbs I swore never to place another piece of landscaping in the ground again. I was going to live in dirt. My efforts at the last house and forever beyond were frustrating, aggravating and in most cases fruitless. From now on I wanted a slammin’ screen door onto a dirty porch that stepped down into dusty or muddy dirt. Just as it was when we lived in the cabin up on the ridge for 5 months. Dirt abounded! I loved it.

Okay, so we move down the ridge from the dirt filled cabin into our new house. Endured the winter in muddy dirt. Spring comes and I’m thinking, “Someone, do something with all this dirt!”

The landscaping began. You gotta get a load of this. I’m walking through the woods and am in awe of all the beeeauutiful ferns everywhere. I want some for my woods edge up close to the house. So I run in the house and order 180.00 worth of ferns online. ( Please, I hope you are not laughing . You’ll hurt my feelings. ) I planted them all around our woods. Now I can enjoy ferns from my window. Did it ever occur to me to transplant any of the approximately 30,000 ferns we have in the woods? Not for a minute.

We continue landscaping our mud pit and as time lapses it starts taking the form of an old familiar song that mimics my old house. ugh. What am I doing? So what…. am I going to have to start watering this stuff and extend my hand of power over this stuff. Rule over it. Control it. Show it whose boss? And when it’s all grown up nice and pretty, I can say, ” Yep, look at me and what I did. I made these things grow.” I can only wish to have that kind of power.

I went hiking with the dogs the other day with my camera and I started photographing our “landscape” that , excuse me, I think a Someone greater than myself planted. And I was quickly amused at the irony of this situation. My photos clearly prove to me that when left to my own controlling devices, my fruits are small and, well….. small.

Take a look at the difference:

My Ferns: