The deer fence is built now so I spent the weekend before last tilling. The plot is about 4200 square feet. We had to pull a lot of roots and other debris out of it. Backbreaking. I was pretty sore and tired at the end.
When I got the tiller going with the wheels pinned in forward motion it took off with me trying to brute force it into a direction to which it was not inclined. This brought back muscle memory of a time in my life where I had to learn quickly how to maneuver a machine that outbrawned me.
I was very young, freshly pregnant with my first born and trying my best to not acknowledge this and hide the signs from everyone. I was poor and scared. Worked for a janitorial company and cleaned the agricultural buildings at UBC and the Customs Building in Vancouver at the corner of Pender and Burrard at night when the buildings were empty and full of echoes.
It was the Customs Building work that introduced me to the floor polisher. The manager who trained me to use it let loose with suppressed laughter when the machine took off down the hall with me like a toddler holding the leash of a coonhound chasing a squirrel.
The men’s bathrooms were the WORST. The urinals were so smelly and filthy I would try to not breathe but still couldn’t stop dry heaving. Finishing the work in the wee hours of the morning I would stop in at McDonalds on Granville Street and nurse a small packet of McFries for as long as I could to calm my stomach, nerves and loneliness.
Tilling and floor polishing are solitary jobs. The noise and exertion allow for no distractions so I had plenty of time to think.
I had no idea what was in store for me and how to manage the next day, never mind the rest of my life. I did imagine a rural life but no idea how to get there. I don’t think that is so unusual for a young woman barely closing in on her twenties. But some old high school classmates seemed to have figured everything out. University, career, house, marriage, family….. Not me. Yet, it’s interesting how little that path panned out in a straight line for most of my cohort.
Maybe it’s ok to not have known the road I needed to take to get where I am now. I have taken so many detours and backroads and trails. Did a fair amount of backtracking. So many mistakes but a maybe bit wiser for it.
For one thing, I am now pretty good at understanding soil and plants.
It is spring here and very warm. And we are ready to launch. The garden is tilled and I am chuffed with my seedling set up.
I have made a week’s worth of chicken soup for breakfast lunch and dinner so no meal planning effort.
I am ready to plant, baby!
One Response
Great post. I love the image of the floor cleaner going off like an unleashed toddler. And love the “In Case of Zombies” above the shovels on the property. That is HILARIOUS and awesome