One of the many perks of running the Portland Marathon is that you are a handed a tree sapling to take home and plant. It's not enough to run a marathon anymore, now you have to accept the responsibility of another life afterwards. In any event, I shoved my sapling into my goodie bag and tossed it in my luggage. Once I got home I pulled the goodie bag out and I thought about where I should plant the thing. He was about the length of my hand and he was just an infant, it even had a diaper covering its roots with some moist soil. I thought about planting it at Rancho but he was so young that I knew it would need some attention to get it started. I didn't want to plant him in the yard and then leave him there once I moved so the next tenant could simply cut him down. So I found a planter box in the back yard and planted him. I then found a spot next to the jade tree so he wouldn't be lonely, and his older sister would inspire him to grow. I watered him a lot and watched him grow a measly inch and a half over the next 4 months. Once again proving that if you want to kill vegetation, hand it to me and ask me to grow it.
Last week I was making my rounds and watering plants when I came across my sapling and it was double in size! He is now sprouting like crazy and the colors of the needles are a deep green. I can't even describe to you how happy it made me. It was simply astonishing that A) I was able to nurture a sapling to life and B) the act of a tree that I planted taking root would give me so much joy. Not only do I feel good about bringing this little guy to life, but I am also doing something good for the environment. This picture was taken yesterday and I put my shades next to him to add perspective. I will be purchasing a real camera so I can take better quality photos sometime next week.
Al Gore, you magnificent son of a bitch, I READ YOUR BOOK!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment