Wednesday, September 18th
Cool, clear day, about 65 degrees
Walking underneath the white-painted, wooden trellis, I approach the metal
gate with a tall wire fence attached to either side. The fence encloses
the beds to keep out deer and other critters that might like to help themselves
to one of the many varieties of produce growing. Entering the gate, I
breathe in deep and exhale a long sigh, wanting to escape the torrent of
everyday life that I find myself immersed in.
The din of construction surrounds me, drowns out bird songs and cricket
chirps. Auditory pollution in an otherwise serene setting. I'm
annoyed. Your building things is ruining my quiet. But the sun is
shining and I'm soaking up vitamin D straight from the source as I crouch low
to the ground removing wilted and bug-eaten kale leaves.
It's hard to let my brain stop. Thinking about readings and
assignments and what someone said in class earlier today. It's all
floating around up there and clashing with the sounds of dump trucks and
backhoes. I want my brain to rest while my body works. I sit on the
earth and pull up weeds.
A mentor once told me to never weed with gloves on. Gloves distance you
from the work you are doing. Microorganisms, she said, live there in the
soil. They enter your body when you get dirt underneath your fingernails
and cause a reaction that produces serotonin. Most people associate
serotonin with its effect on a person's mood, but the body uses most of it in
the gut, in regulating intestinal movements. I never weed wearing gloves unless
a plant’s prickly spines insist.
I wonder how those tiny organisms benefit from such a situation. Was
this arrangement the result of co-evolution? Over thousands of years of
humans putting their hands in the earth, these microscopic creatures have found
a way to make a living by supplementing the human body with a much needed
hormone. The vast, interconnected processes and systems astound me.
A half hour has passed and my brain is on a different plane now. It's
let loose of the minutia of the day. Finally. Rest. The
sounds of the machinery several hundred yards away develop a sort of rhythm
like the constant ebb and flow of the tides. My body follows suit.
This is where I need to be, in this place with this state of mind.
I love your idea of weeding without gloves-- to get the serotonin in your system. What a wonderful (but overlooked) connection between you and nature, and in fact, all people and nature. Seems as though it can affect us in some very unexpected ways...
ReplyDeleteSo, I am going to echo Steve and say I love the weeding without gloves. I have noticed the same phenomenon; I personally like connecting with soil and plants without layers of material in the way, but I am not familiar with the concept of serotonin. This information, for me, was fascinating and instructional. Also, I enjoyed following your scattered mind with the "auditory pollution" (such a unique way to describe sound) at the beginning of the post down to the rest at the end. I can completely relate!
ReplyDeleteI love seeing how the natural world, your being in it, unfolds in this entry, just as the serenity did for you while you were out there.
ReplyDelete