Dirt

I don't think i'm a particularly "effective" person. At least not in that way that "highly effective" people are. As it is, I just sort of run rough-shod over concept to concept. I wish I weren't this way. I don't think it's a lack of intelligence; I'm hoping that it's just a matter of discipline (or some equally onerous word). One day I guess I'll learn to behave...and i would do that now except that....well, i guess that right now I'm just too distracted by the small and the silly.

Anyway, the reason for the "not effective" confession is to assure other not-so-effective people out there that they can still get little things done here and there without entirely having to change everything about themselves. Case in point:

I made dirt.

And I'm really excited about it.

Here's the deal: One of my favorite bits of writing in the whole world is from a Wendell Berry essay called "The Work of Local Culture." This essay is collected in the book What Are People For? and, if you don't already own the book, I suggest you purchase it as soon as possible. Here is my favorite part:

For many years, my walks have taken me down an old fencerow in a wooded hollow on what was once my grandfather's farm. A battered galvanized bucket is hanging on a fence post near the head of the hollow, and i never go by it without stopping to look inside. For what is going on in that bucket is the most momentous thing i know, the greatest miracle that i have ever heard of: it is making earth.

I have huge plans. I have vast, head-swimmingly grandiose plans. And I rarely ever get anything done. This year, however, i finally managed to compost my leaves. I cordoned them off in a little corner of the backyard and, on occasion, i would go out there and turn the pile over a little bit. Week by week the leaves broke down. Attractive, wiggly earthworms started to make appearances. The leaves grew darker and, it seemed, much heavier. The pile didn't even get that much smaller. And since it appears that Spring has rolled around here at last, this past weekend i did what I've waited to do all winter: I dug into that pile of rotting leaves. I got a shovel and used every bit of it in our garden spots. I never stopped being amazed at what i saw. Man, i helped make dirt!