May - from the 'Year at Robie Creek' series

Originally published in the:

Well, the trampoline is up, trees are budding out, the property is half-raked, and we’ve got three weeks to burn everything we can before it gets pretty dangerous to do that. This is the third year since we’ve done any significant landscaping – we like to let things lie fallow for a couple years here and there to build up a good layer of topsoil – so there’s a lot of burning to be done. It’s always nice to roast a couple marshmallows at the end of a day’s work.

I like to work in sections. I start where I left off last year and clear out the grass and undergrowth in areas defined by natural boundaries, leaving scattered areas where insects and rodents can make their homes and where the plant life can make its own way, which helps me determine what likes to be homed where. Dude handles the overall maintenance – driveway, paths, large brush and branch removal and major tree trimming – and I do the shaping and transplanting and bordering. Dude, Jr. usually chooses to help his dad with raking and shoveling and me with aesthetics and functionality.

After three or four years doing this the topsoil gets a little thin and the ground ends up parched by mid-summer, so for a couple years, other than removing the plants I prefer to keep contained and those with very aggressive growth habits, we let everything go. Logs and rocks that were lining paths or outlining plots of catnip or bittersweet get buried or rotted or overgrown, grasses and ‘weeds’ (many of which are not) grow tall and wild, fauna proliferates, soil is replenished and the lower layers are turned by the earthworms, moles, and other burrowers that find those years favorable. When we start making the raking rounds again there are a nice couple inches of beautiful soil that allows for healthy plant growth, better root systems, and less erosion of the underlying ground structure.

Speaking of underlying structures, I get a lot of, “Wow, you must have ‘hippie feet’, huh?” for doing this (and most everything) barefoot. I do indeed have fairly tough feet, but I go barefoot for my back. Walking shoeless on uneven surfaces strengthens the arches and other muscles of the feet, which helps us carry our hips in alignment, which helps maintain spinal alignment with all the benefits of that; fewer back-/neck-/headaches, better posture, less likelihood of sciatic and other nerve-based pain. Having feet that can stand up to anything short of a hawthorn (including snow and ice) is just a bonus, and all without outrageous calluses or anything!

But really, I’d rather step on a rusty nail with a bare foot than a shoe. Whenever I feel my foot coming down on something sharp, I stop short of putting my full weight on it and rarely get more than a tiny poke. When I step on something with a shoe or boot on, often as not it’s coming right through the sole and as deep into my foot as it can reach, and that’s a much dirtier wound than one I get with a bare foot, as all the detritus from the shoe or boot is also carried into it. (I speak from experience in both scenarios; I’ve also had the infamous hawthorn thorns go through a tennis shoe sole, although those are far less likely to carry tetanus and pick up less debris.)

I wanted to take a moment to mention one of the things I enjoyed about North Carolina, where we lived for seven years during and after Dude’s stint in the USMC: A plant called pokeweed.

Pokeweed doesn’t grow here, or hasn’t taken for me when I’ve planted seeds I brought with me. I suppose it’s just too short a growing season, too dry in summer, and too cold in winter. But they’re beautiful plants, they make a lovely juice (not tasty), and, used properly, it’s an excellent overall restorative with some specific uses. Some elderberry tincture might brighten it up, or I suppose honey although I’m not personally big on the sweet drinks.

Here again be sure to educate yourself regarding the preparation and uses of pokeweed before experimenting with it. It’s not hard to make a useful and non-toxic (in my experience) extract with just a little research, and it’s even easier to buy one from someone who can direct you in its use, Sunshine House, Terra Mater Botanicals, or your favorite supplier of herbal supplementation.

I don’t miss any of it as much as I’d miss the Creek should there ever be a reason to leave it. Not only is it visually and aurally interesting, but it harbors endless fascinating little life forms and tells us much about the health of our environment. Having an aboveground source of clean and potable water is always reassuring in case of some kind of catastrophic failure of systems, as well.

So in May here at Robie Creek, we navigate uncertain weather from day to day, do what we can when we can in preparation for what is almost always a hot, dry summer, remain vigilant over what’s growing where (now is the time, as later it will be established and harder to pull clean from the ground, roots and all), and prevent our little spot here from reverting to the forest and overgrown wash it would naturally be. We enjoy the lengthening days, the busyness at our feeders of the hummingbirds that started staking out territories and building nests last month, the squirrels chasing and chirping at one another endlessly as they court. By the middle of the month we should be able to get started on the swimmin’ hole.

For now we’ll let you go. We’ve enjoyed hangin’ with you for a little while, and as always, from Robie Creek to Owl Creek, take care, be safe, have fun!

With much love,

Peace & the Dudes Jaway

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