Member-only story
Shadow Work and Gardening
Digging beneath the surface to find the problem
Gardening is a hobby of mine, especially since lockdown began almost seventeen months ago. With all of my theatre shows cancelled, and everything else for that matter, I had more time to plan and create and I did. I’ve planted a Shakespeare Garden, all with plants that are mentioned in Shakespeare’s writings, a spiral garden, and a moon garden. With everything opening back up, they’ve been a little more difficult to maintain as I’m not home all the time anymore, but I’ve kept them up pretty well through this season. So far.
While digging, planting, weeding, sweating, and fighting off mosquitos (why do they exist???), there is time to think.
There is something supremely satisfying about pulling weeds, especially the ones with the really stubborn roots that extend in a million directions and, in some cases, are longer than the visible part of the plant. Those particular weeds cannot just be pulled out by the handful. They take some extra work, some digging, perhaps, in order to fully clear them from the garden.
There was an old arborvitae-type bush growing in our front yard for several years, right in front of our main window. The best years of its life were over. the branches were sparse, and it was just plain ugly. I wanted to replace it with something new and less boring. My…
