The Zen Of Hand Watering
Early this morning I realized I should get busy hand watering my newly-planted squash, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and other garden plants here at Spirit Tree Farm. Actually, let me rephrase that. It hadn’t rained in Georgia for several days. The plants needed water.
Hand watering the garden isn’t necessary. I could turn on the hose with the spraying head, attach it to the fence, and let it spray the garden until it was good and soaked. In fact, that’s probably what I’ll do in the bigger garden tomorrow morning.
Satisfying Hand Watering
As I was filling a watering can and another water jug from deep within one of the open-topped rain barrels near our downspouts, I thought to myself: “This isn’t really practical. There are so many faster, more effective ways to water our crops.” In fact, I’ve used most of them. Long soaker hoses. Spray nozzles attached to hundreds of feet of construction-grade garden hoses, attached to splitter faucets. I’ve even toyed with the idea of getting a solar pump and pumping water from the West Chickamauga Creek that flows past our property.
As I felt the cool rainwater in the barrel flow around my hand, and listened to the soft gurgle of the former fruit juice jug as it let out air and let in water, I became aware of a deep sense of satisfaction. “Do water gurgling noises emit negative ions the way waterfalls do?” I wondered. “Is there a deeper connection to Mother Earth as I’m washing my face and hands in rainwater? Do the plants know the difference between rainwater turned into compost tea, compared to tap water from our well?” These were all thoughts that drip drip dripped around in my brain.
Hand Watering Rituals Flow Zen
My next step in the routine hand watering process was to lug the water to the newly-planted veggies and deftly sprinkle around each plant’s base. I became aware of a rhythm, water dripping in a pattern as I swept the can in a back-and-forth motion. It was not skimpy, but it wasn’t a torrential downpour, either.
Within this activity, the water’s sound, motion, the occasional droplet splashing onto my hand, the satisfying murmur of the dirt sucking up moisture, the way the plants seemed to stand straighter and glow greener, all these hand-watering rituals created a Zen-like feeling of peace, tranquility, and connection with Nature.
Rain had fallen earlier in the week. A storm might come in a few days to naturally water my garden. Meanwhile, I play the role of a delivery man, taking stored liquid needed by the plants from my collection of rain barrels, buckets, a pond, and even a canoe or kayak filled to the brim, and carrying the life-giving liquid where it can do the most good.
Hand Watering Benefits
What do I get in return? For starters, a good workout. Carrying and lifting water makes certain I’m active. In fact, I made a video for a couple of cross-fit training friends of mine asking them about my routine. For me, lifting a couple of gallons — or even a couple of five-gallon buckets — at a time and carrying them several hundred feet through the woods and across the field is more satisfying than any gym workout.
I also connect to the life cycle of plants. Will they grow without me? Perhaps. But perhaps not. I make certain that the rain gets from the sky to my roof to a collection container to a watering jug, onto the soil surrounding the plants. That makes me part of their growth, and helps the rainwater fulfill its purpose of nourishing, rather than just eroding away the field’s dirt into the stream.
A Flow Connecting To Nature
Perhaps most importantly, this rhythm and flow from hand watering makes me feel connected to all of Nature. I’m no longer an outsider, looking out the window as storms pass, watching as plants grow and bear fruit independently and spontaneously.
Hand watering makes me become an active participant, someone who is needed and helpful. I feel and smell and hear and taste. And when that happens, I become aware of the miracle that is life, that is the Earth, that Heavenly Father has given us.
Mostly, I will be practical and use hoses and irrigation to water and nurture what we’re trying to get to grow here. But sometimes, on occasion, I will return again to the barrels full of soft, collected rainwater. I’ll open the spigot or lean into an open container, filling my watering cans and jugs. Then I’ll trudge slowly, laboriously, almost as if I were in a type of rain dance trance, and share the cool liquid with my partners in the gardens and fields here.
Care to get in Nature’s flow, to observe and connect with God’s Creations and Miracles? Check out Spirit Tree Farms Nature Observation and Creativity classes, or schedule a visit to our property in Northwest Georgia, just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
