the summer of soil

collection OO2 | soil

a reflection on the textures, tones & emotions evoked by hands immersed in earth

the summer of soil | a poem

soil, soil, soil
everything you touch
you think you spoil

under painted nails
sweat stained bandanas
old college tshirts
shrunken by washes
thrifted army boots
treads filled flush
weathertech car mats
perennial transplants
joyrides between homes
on black cloth seats
on holey tarps

great appreciation
the tarps we carry
nostril hairs collect
eyelashes block
eyebrows attract?
skin shields
skin protects
skin stains

don’t you wear gloves
no

because if i did
how would the soil

gather around knuckles
compliment white nails
serve masculine irony
cake dewy wrists
contrast palm lines
sift through fingers
callous repetitive pads

ground me
connect me
free me
from this clean
swept up life

how, then
would the soil
whisper its thanks
for the tending
additives of peat
handfuls of bone meal
overturning earth
oxygenating shovelfuls

as suds run dark
& skin slowly fades
longing returns
for chilled matter
between fingers
brings me back
the next day

the summer of soil was spent forming free-standing rock walls & landscaping for a most beautiful venue– the foxglove farm in suttons bay, michigan

a great majority of the perennials were transplanted from other areas around the property, with a dedication to natural landscape design & local, native plants like maidenhair ferns, cotoneaster & forget-me-nots

clay & sand made up the composition of the soil; shipments of topsoil & black gold mulch made it possible for new life to flourish

the foxglove farm is currently accepting inquiries for 2O23 events