Worms on the Sidewalk

Today I finally made it through the worst of the weeding project.

You would think I would feel more relieved... but I have so much more to do.

First of all, as anyone who's ever had a garden knows- weeding is never done. The work I did on day one, well, it all needs to be done again. It's just less noticeable now.

Secondly, next comes the more gratifying- but still challenging work of planting new life where I've torn out all the weeds.

But before I can do that, I have to go through and bag up all the dead stuff I've pulled out so that it can be hauled to the tree dump or whatever it's called.

As I got down to the last 2 short terraces today, most of the weeds were volunteer trees. My analogy for these is addictions. The roots have gone so deep that they'll probably always be there, all you can do is cut them off at the ground whenever they show up again.

Then I realized I had to go one terrace farther down than I thought- all the way to the sidewalk... because the edge where the sidewalk meets the wall is crazy with weeds.

Here's a picture of what I had to do when I was already halfway done (by the way, this counts as the longest terrace because it goes all the way across the property).
And here's what it looked like when I was done pulling it out:
(horrible picture, between my finger over the lens and my shadow in the pic... but I had to use my phone because Matt took the camera with him today, so I'm blaming that)

It kind of looks like I dragged a pile of dirt up the sidewalk- oh yeah, that's what I did.

One of the new elements that I ran into today was comments from passersby. I wouldn't say this is a super busy sidewalk, I had 4 people go past, and one lady went down the hill, then back up about an hour later.

One guy was on a run, he had headphones on and was obviously working really hard. He didn't say anything to me. Two people said something to the effect of "You've got quite a job there!" and the one lady who went down and back was the most encouraging to me. She said, "We've got to start early on a day like today." Because it's going to get really hot today. What was particularly encouraging was that she wasn't expressing what a mess things were, but agreeing that pulling weeds was something we all have to do if we want a well-tended garden. Somehow, she was in it with me, even though she was working on her exercise discipline, while I worked on this particular one.

So my thoughts about this particular level- street ministry.
This is where the rubber hits the road. I not only had to pull my lawn & leaf bags with me up the sidewalk, but I also had to take a trash bag. There were evidences of people- particularly things that people get hooked on- everywhere down there. From obvious addicting substances like empty cigarette packs & broken beer bottles, to more socially acceptable ones like coffee cups and pop bottles.

Not that these things haven't found their way into the rest of the terraces, they have. My driveway acts like a wind tunnel, and a lot of stuff blows over the edge down to the rocks below. I cleaned these things up because I don't want bike tires to get punctured as they pass by. I don't want this crap to end up in the storm sewer (our storm sewers have had a lot of extra stress on them lately, and our rivers are suffering- but that's another story).

Another thing I noticed was that these weeds were particularly easy to pull - it made a very dramatic difference in the appearance of the sidewalk. A lot of time, people who are in desperate situations are very open to God's saving work in their lives. A little love and nurture goes a long way.

The last thing I want to make comment on, is that for the first time in all this work, I was encountering earthworms today. You may think that's really strange, considering I've been working in the dirt for weeks now, but remember- everything I've been doing has had an underlying layer of landscape fabric (salvation). It's made the roots of my weeds not go very deep, making them easier to pull. But there's no earthworms there, and the soil is not very nutrient-rich because of it.

Today, I encountered worms. I don't know why. I guess they could get to the sidewalk from under the wall. They were giving the weeds some nice soil to grow in. Then I ripped out all the weeds- making them homeless. Well, not really- they could always go back under the wall, I guess. I decided to pick them up and toss them up into the upper terraces, trusting they'd find their way to dirt before they baked in the sun.

Because if I'm going to plant bushes and such up there, I'd like some worms to fertilize the soil. I think my life needs a few more "earthy" characters in it. People who remind me that there is beauty in diversity. People who make me stronger by the junk they expose in me. I will be watching for my "Earthworm Jim" superheroes to come my way.
(this is an admittedly obscure reference that probably only my husband will understand!)

But I probably have to get out on the sidewalks to find them.