Buried Rocks...and Burried Treasures

Will here:

I was taking-advantage of a day "off" that both me and my children had from school. Such days are all-too-rare. Anyway, I used the opportunity to get some help with the massive amount of yardwork that needs to be done before I can mow the grass or till the garden.

While I had the kids work the simpler tasks of cleaning the trash out of the car, putting all the sticks into the fire-pit to be burned later, or just picking-up the trash that the wind delivers from the neighborhood; I decided that it was time for me to tackle a more-strenuious activity.

While I have been re-claiming the sidewalk from Mother Nature, I had been procrastinating the task of removing the few rocks and pavers that testify that the berm in the back yard was once a rock wall. Fewer than about 5% of the wall remains, but the remaining stones present a real danger to a lawnmower, and the operator. So I sighed at yet another difficult task, and set to work digging and prying the stones from their roosts and piling them next to one of the enormous oak trees on the property.

The task was pretty-much as I had expected. It was dirty, sweaty work (despite the cool morning), and I often found that, like an iceberg, 90% of the stones were under the surface. It gave me a real appreciation for Joseph Smith's efforts to move a much-larger stone, once upon a time. While he knew ahead of time what was to be found beneath his stone...I was expecting (and hoping for) "nothing", so that I could repeat the process with the next offending stone. But then I found a surprise waiting for me.

Actually, there were 2 surprises. The first was the fact that, aside from being slightly "clayey", the soil was as close to "perfect" as I had ever handled. It also ran as deep as my shovel had penetrated (about 18" to get under some of the larger stones. It was very encouraging to me to see such deep, rich soil already in place for our garden.

The second surprise was the reason I am writing now. As I first marked-off the spots where I found stones I wanted removed, I noticed something at nearly every site I identified. Among the various weeds sprouting between the winter-weary grass were some strange, broad shoots. After I cleared the first large stone, I got a cut-away view that surprised me. There, now exposed in the hillside were bulbs the size of medium onions attached to very long shoots of almost a foot in length, with the relatively small green shoots just over the surface of the soil.

At the first stone, I had incidentally destroyed many of the neighboring bulbs. But after the second stone, I decided to take more care, in an effort to save and transplant them somewhere in our huge, but chronically-neglected yard. After all, how many more of the bulbs could there be? I got "lucky" to find a second patch of them in the first place. But there were many more stones...and many more bulbs. I have no idea what species of flower they represent. But the more stones I uncovered, the more large, healthy, vigorous bulbs I found next to each stone. Clearly, this was far-cheaper than buying even the cheapest bulbs in a attempt to help this yard look like it is inhabited again.

After I acquired over 50 perfect bulbs, I looked back at the holes I had made in the hillside, and saw that the bulbs had once been part of a pattern that someone else had established. The stones were not random, nor were the bulbs in the deep, rich soil next to each of them. My own experience as a gardener showed me the purpose and pattern that was laid-out long ago, and since abandoned. I knew that someone had placed each stone and cluster of bulbs with considerable thought and effort. In my gardener's eye I could see how beautiful it had once been, about 15 years ago, though the pattern would have been very difficult to notice without getting on my knees and clearing-away the years of weeds...first.

I gave some thought about what lessons this might teach me. For one thing, the next time I have to pry some large stones from the ground, I will take better note of what else lies next to the problematic stones in the hillside. Second, when I see something struggling to grow next to a large stone, I'll treat it with love and respect for it's struggles. Finally, after I am sweaty and dirty from my efforts and look back at the holes where the defiant stones once laid...I'll appreciate the easily-disguised pattern that they reveal to those that are willing to get on their knees to clear-away the weeds; and remember that each bulb and stone was laid in place by someone else who was motivated to make the world a little bit lovelier.

I had the kids help me transplant the best bulbs into our best clay pots. We can't wait to see what flowers will bloom.

Happy Easter, Everyone!