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Show Thoughts From The Garden... by Tonya LeMone Nothing in the world is more flexible and ytelding than water I have a love-hate relationship with water. From a very young age it has been a well known tact to anyone who knows me that I have a great fear of water especially for recreational use and definitely if the water is over my head, which I might add is not hard to do. I hclicve Lao Tzu when he said, "Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong none can withstand it because they have no way to change it." That being said, hopefully you better understand my feelings toward water. But, to a gardener water is the very essence of the garden. A garden cannot exist without it, and this is where the love part of my love-hate relationship with this very essential garden clement comes from. During my younger growing up years, I lived in southern California and my mother felt it necessary that I learn to swim because we spent a better part of each year on the beautiful white sandy beaches of a small coastal town of San Clcmentc. My mother enrolled me in every swimming class at every age level and even private lessons, but the fear always took over when we had to take that jump into the twelve foot end of the pool off the diving board. 1 always accomplished the task because I was an obedient child, but was sick for days prior with the anxiety of stepping off into the deep blue. Did I learn to swim? Maybe enough to save a child, but the fear was and is still there. Even as an adult I was determined to learn to swim. My husband offered a neighbor an obscene amount of money if she could teach me to swim. She quickly found out I could swim but could not get over the fear. I took lessons for two summers and learned so much about patience and trust, but still have the fear which keeps me from accomplishing the art of swimming without fear and enjoying the sport. As the gardening season begins (hopefully soon), water once again is a big part of my life, but this is the love part of my love-hate relationship with water. As I plant my garden and mow my lawns and wait anxiously for the grey water system to come on, l am troubled by the thought if we were not able to have water or had to haul water in order for our crops to survive. For the last 23 years we have received our water through irrigation turns and then the miracle of a grey water system. What a glorious day it was when we no longer had to set the alarm and water at all hours of the day or night. Our children loved getting up at 2 a.m. to water and do a little skim boarding, but it was hard for us parents who still had to carry on our regular routine with interrupted sleep. We have now come to another cross road in our watering system. We are getting an automated sprinkler system. Now to most people an automated sprinkler system is nothing foreign nor a luxury because it has always just been .there. However, for me it is the greatest thing since brown paper bags. For all these years I have dragged hoses from one end or our half acre to the other end of our half acre timing it so I am not watering in the heat of the day and finishing my watering before 1 leave for work, making sure there are no brown spots on the lawn that first appear as a deep blue green color then overnight they are as brown as if neglected for weeks. For the last week we have had the hardest working men hand digging our yard and installing sprinkler pipes to make my life easier. At the end of the week I was called out of the house to see the new installation. Right there before my eyes was little sprinklers popping out of the ground covering every inch of grass, garden and herb garden without missing a spot and set on a timer to come on while I am fast asleep in my warm bed. Oh, the miracles I have seen in my lifetime! Even though my regard for water for recreational purposes has pretty much stayed the same for the last something, something years my love for water in the garden has increased immensely. I appreciate the labor of those who so carefully dug through our landscaped yard and when leaving at the end of each day, they would tidy up their work so no one could even see signs of grass being moved. I also appreciate the free flowing water we get from our canals at a very low cost, and for a husband who made this a priority on our summer to-do list, so as to make my life easier and make it possible to leave and take a little road trip with the "canned-ham" on her maiden voyage (that will be another story. ...soon). My love-hate relationship with water will continue, I am certain of. But, I will also continue to have the respect I always have had for water and still believe that nothing is more flexible or yielding than water, but there is nothing more important to our survival than water. Sec you in the Garden |