Working with the soil

Working with the soil and tending plants, especially saplings - I have always theorised about how important it is for each one of us to be connected to the earth this way, especially children. Today I will say it emphatically. Fresh after my gardening session. Yes, I have harvested dals and done some weeding a while back in a farm. However, the joy and meditation of preparing a soil bed and planting tender saplings is unbeatable and a fundamental experience of life, I think.

Weeding first to clear an area and removing roots, stones etc.,

then loosening the soil with the help of a hand shovel,

"one has to be careful about the smaller creatures (millipedes for example) and not kill them as much as possible" (as my teacher and companion for this gardening session told me),

setting up a fence simultaneously so that the pups don't dig up the saplings,

adding cow dung manure to the area and further mixing and loosening the soil,

making alternate rows of ridges and troughs taking care not to harden the soil,

then at last planting the saplings.

"Planting the saplings" cannot adequately express the gentleness, delicate handling and complete attention that the little lives require to be put (roots first!&#!) into the soil. The roots shouldn't go too deep in otherwise they would just muck and die. The soil should be closed around the roots just so. Quoting my gardening teacher, "closing the soil around the roots is like hugging someone - it can't be too tight that you squeeze the life out or frighten them off and it can't be too loose that they don't feel it at all." It has to be from the heart! Just handling the soil with just the right pressure is, simply life. Children would do this best I think. In fact, children must do this and then, tend to them and watch their saplings grow, and grow right along.

Just as I will. After planting my saplings, I poured water into the troughs and sprinkled some on the plants. Tomorrow, it will be time to add dry leaves for mulching, so that the soil or the sapling does not get dry. Then watch the saplings take in sunshine and grow, as the roots catch, spread and drink up water. I am a child again.