Relative Something

We took a break yesterday from focusing totally on the barn and paddocks, and put our energies toward furthering the creation of the labyrinth garden. The big milestone that we finally achieved is the planting of a tree in the center. This is something that I have been visualizing for a long time. Originally, we talked about choosing a young tree from somewhere on our property, but then Cyndie brought home a couple of trees from a nursery and we considered using one of those.

At the last minute –in fact, just as we were setting one of the purchased trees in the hole we had dug– we both decided we’d rather try one from our property. I’m very happy we had the same thought about this, because it would have been a challenge to navigate a difference of opinion on the subject. Selecting and digging up our own tree did mean a fair amount of additional work, but with both of us equally invested in the decision, it became a joint labor of love.

Hoping we wouldn’t end up with a “Charlie Brown-style” tree after we extricated it from the woods, we set about trying to find and save as many roots as possible, navigating around some much bigger roots of surrounding trees, and one huge rock that was buried directly beneath the specimen we picked. About two-thirds into a project like this, I start wondering if we bit off more than we could chew, but that adds good drama to the adventure which brings greater euphoria when success is achieved.

Together we triumphed over the extrication, getting ourselves covered with dirt, and rushed the patient to the waiting hole just behind center of the labyrinth. In about a hundred years, I hope this little tree looks as gnarly and noble as the giant maple tree that towers over the spot from which he was moved.

With the new tree in place, we had fresh incentive to finish off creating definition of the center space and placing rocks to clearly mark the rest of the pathway. We changed some things around the perimeter, found a new location for the purchased trees, and mowed the entire length of the path.

We spent almost the entire day down there, and I got the impression that we could do the same, every single day, adding the touches we have in mind, and never get around to doing anything else around here. Like most art projects, it is hard to decide when it is done. Happily, this project will always be an ongoing one, growing and changing, so I won’t worry myself with the decision of whether it’s done or not.

It will always be growing.