The Land

I was out for a walk on our land today.  It's only a small plot, an acre.  It doesn't take long to travel the whole of it.  It's a peaceful walk.  The sun decided to come out after all.  It was beautiful, well, as beautiful as a regularly mowed back yard can be.

My inspiration was to take photos of our land.  At first it was to document a "before and after" portrait of our yard, perhaps with little photos of all the progress as we went.  A part of me knew that, just like with children, this yard would change so much, and I wanted to remember where it had all started.  I wanted to have record of what we've done, all our hard work.  I wanted to be able to look back and appreciate everything we had worked so hard to achieve.  In some places there is massive overgrowth.  In others there is fresh death of pulled weeds and recently cut grass.  It was a mixture of pleasure and sadness.

The land needs some serious work.  There are heavy ruts in the ground from where some vehicle rolled through.  The butterfly garden is overgrown with weeds.  The north-east corner has a raspberry bush that is struggling to hold on under the suffocation of overgrowth.  The mesquite tree has nearly been cleared free of the weeds that are surrounding it and the holly by it's base can begin to grow freely.  The crab apple tree is flourishing.  The vegetable garden is overrun by mature asparagus, wild sunflowers, and dandelions.  The seeds blew through the air like flecks of snow.  The baby tree growing at the stump of the old peach tree is nearly buried with weeds and overgrowth.  The wildflower garden is beautiful, but is starting to become not much more than grass.  We have a lot of work to do if we wish to make this land happy again, but we can do it.  We may not get to all the planting we would like this year, but the land will be ready.  We'll be prepared.

Strangely, the overgrowth and abundance has not only been with weeds.  Everything is growing with an incredible vibrancy.  Trees that were dying have started to return, though some did choose to give up their lives rather than continue on.  The plum tree, which rarely bore fruit, is now full of little green plums.  The ground beneath it is coated with those that have fallen.  It feels like the land is truly alive, not just living enough to get by, but growing bountifully.  A little bit of love seems to go a very long way, even with the neglect this land has suffered with lack of maintenance.

It won't be long before this land is transformed.  Perhaps those who have seen it before won't even recognize it by the time we're through.  It will be vibrant and bright.  Now I just need to get the motivation to get out there and do it!