Summer Moon of First Harvests
One thing I learned here early on was that decisions to not do things had important consequences. Sections of the ash that grew so long undisturbed in the midst of our vegetable garden will now provide seating for the Woollies this evening and others in the future. We chose, for example, to not plant a full lawn in front, but to bookend the main lawn with prairie grass and wildflowers.
I chose to leave three oaks growing on what is now the northern border of the vegetable garden. They’re 20 years older now, a small clump of strong young oaks. I also chose to leave an ash sapling in the area where Jon and I cleared out the black locust, an area now covered by our vegetable garden and orchard.
As the years went by that ash grew, no competition, plenty of water and great sun. It grew so big that it shaded out two raised beds and threw shadows onto much of the northern section of the vegetable garden. Finally, we decided it had to go because we were not going to expand our vegetable gardening space and needed all the sun we could get for the beds we had.
Now that it’s gone we have a sunny garden which feels very open and airy. And that ash was not grown in vain. It will now provide seating for years to come. I like the cycle of growth, transformation and reuse.