We had our first significant winter rainstorm last month. I couldn’t find my “Gaia shovel” – a shovel I’ve had for twenty five years and which has gone with me on almost every rain walk. So I ended up taking one of Alysia’s garden trowels. Much lighter. But more interestingly, a trowel brings me to my knees, down to a smaller scale of action which pulls my eyes and mind down to a more precise scale. I feel more of the texture of the ground when my arm pushes the trowel than when my legs thrust the shovel. I see and feel the difference in micro-environments shaped by the depositional patterns of slowing runoff or by how much water soaks in. I feel more in touch as I place pieces of sod with my hands and pat them into place – something I didn’t do when I was standing with my shovel. There’s a precision that is fun. My work feels more like gardening than engineering. I have since found my shovel but the trowel is becoming my first choice.
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