37/2025: Planting patience.

Image © Jose 2025

When I was at my Home Away from Home, the family member that owns and runs the place is a trained designer that decided to lead his life in a different way, he went to South America to help the locals build houses and became a permaculture follower. We had a chance to go see a plot of land he is working on, and he showed us his and his girlfriend’s work, hard work that is starting to bear fruit, so to speak. They started by using part of their plot as a community garden and have succeeded in growing some dry nuts and fruits, they have been preparing and planting the ground near the main house, which is about to be renovated, and the work is thoughtful, holistic in nature. Not something I can explain in detail and with enough understanding, unless I decide to ask the bots to explain. But it seems a practice that is not asking to be theoretically or academically taught but planned and executed in situ. Though I am sure there are many books on this, and YouTube channels, and gurus and influencers, it seems this is the sort of thing you want to be side-by-side with someone that has done it and learn by doing.

This weekend was tree planting weekend, I planted nine of them and created a vegetable patch. I have to be honest, I don’t know much about trees, on the other hand my wife can look at one and say what it is, especially fruit trees. I planted English Laurel, Hinoki Cypress and Fernspray Gold says the wife. I grew up climbing trees, breaking twigs to create bows, grabbing “maçanica” to shoot with an electric pipe, falling from them and getting stitches on the top of my head, but never learned much about them. The work was harder in some places than others, because the soil in some areas has a lot of rocks. We are supposed to make a hole twice the diameter of the potted tree, and as deep as the pot, in some cases I had to bring out the power tool to cut roots so the hole could go deeper. In the morning silence, just the noise of the metal blade carving the ground, making melodic noises depending on what it hits, syncopated as a soundtrack. Satisfying, but will be even more as time passes and you see the trees grow, flourish, stay evergreen as the winter clears out all the other trees.

I have a blister in one of my hands, though some might mention my delicate typing hands, reality is this was done by a tool, a tool so poorly designed that I must bring it up. It is the infamous hole digger, that contraption with two blades as small spades and two large wood handles that can open/close the blades. You are supposed to raise and drop the open blades on the ground, using gravity and sheer strength, then maneuver the handle in such a way that, theoretically, you grab some land/dirt, and you can then place it somewhere. It is made to dig deep and narrow holes where you might not be able to fit other tools, and you can buy it in many if not all hardware stores. Now, I know some things exist because they were the best compromise to be found between a job to be done and how much we are prepared to pay for a tool to help us get that job done. But this is a nasty tool, the blades are small and don’t capture much of anything, the open/close mechanism is very limited, you need a lot of impact power to get as deep as you need and then strength enough to maintain the blades closed when you have some earth in the blades. If you use it long enough, you get one or more blisters, the job hardly gets done and the user is complaining all the way.

There are so many ways to dig holes, and depending on the soil, it can be more or less challenging. I am sure those that do this day in day out don’t use this tool, there are probably hundreds of tools, many mechanized, and a professional version of the tool I am describing. But this tool, this tool should not exist. That’s how far I am willing to go!