Water Resistant Dirt.

Working in the garden the other day, I made an important discovery. Or at least an important rediscovery. I was working on an area that was very dry and very sheltered under overhanging tree branches and filled with plants that were untidy and now unwanted. So in my tidy-up efforts, I dug out all the unwanted plants, trimmed the overhanging branches and such, and finally dug up the soil, adding some fertilizer and water retaining crystals. When all that was done, because we can’t use a hose because of the continuing water restrictions, I carried buckets of wastewater from the washing machine and poured it on the dry area. That is when I rediscovered water resistant dirt.

It may seem strange but there comes a time when the soil dries out too much and it no longer absorbs and retains moisture. Instead, it actually repels water and the dry soil often floats on top of the water. The only way to get it wet is to make little dams and fill them with water and give them 20 or 30 minutes to absorb the water. Either that or completely cover the area with a water retaining Mulch material that will hold and trap the water till the soil is able to properly absorb the moisture again.

This provided me with a natural illustration of how to deal with a natural human nature situation, mentioned in an earlier blog. There, I wondered out loud about how we can pass on good information to people who need it but won’t accept it.

Like with this dry soil, we have to work with or on it and first prepare it to hold onto the information or at least to receive it without it flowing away. Then we have to both encourage its absorption and find other ways to encourage its absorption. Such as a mulch of some kind. All this of course involves time and effort and even a lot of emotional involvement.

So, when it comes to our friends and companions, are you/we prepared to do the hard preparatory work? Yes we are usually quick to give the advice but are we also equally prepared to do the hard preparatory work so that the water/advice stays there? And then to wrap them with love and practical advice to help them hold onto and eventually absorb, even if little by little, this good water/advice of ours? Are we? Are you?