Our part of Cheshire was, according to our neighbors, the community dump. We’ve spent months cleaning up trash, big and small. When I mentioned this to one of the neighbors he said, “It doesn’t stop. Our place seems to just grow trash.” Plastic is an especially abundant crop. If I wasn’t anti-plastic grocery bag before, I’m here to tell you, plastic grocery bags never go away!
It’s been wonderful to watch the whole place look better as we gradually clean up the trash. It’s as if the trees can breathe more deeply. On Sunday evening, I was amending the soil around an apple tree next to the yurt. As I worked the new rich, deep brown soil into the dry, tan dirt, I also picked out bits of plastic, old food wrappers, and the odd bit of nylon twine. I began to understand the phrase “healing the earth” a bit more as I worked. I’m coming to believe that healing the earth is an integral part of how we heal ourselves or, at least, how I’m healing myself.
