The oak tree in the side yard came in a pot, dug up by Anna Mitchell as a gift to the great plains’ tallgrass prairie, tree-less homestead. It now towers tall and with the low branches in summer creating a “room” of sorts to sit on Earl Hatley’s bench, brought from his place outside Guthrie, OK. There are so many acorns on the ground and if you look down hill from here, leaves are still on the baby oak trees for a second-generation oak forest come 50 years from now.
During the ice storms that oak tree received a great deal of damage. Many trees suffered. You might have remembered the sound they made as branches the size of a man’s leg broke, snapped and the crack echoed with the next as the trees took turns losing limbs. Jim Cook saved that oak and has come back since then to trim and groom to protect the shape and extend the life.
And in trimming, the culled have become the joy of winter nights, as they burn both brightly and warm this home. Brad Mitchell, our Chimney sweep and probably yours, makes sure the fires burn to heat and not harm us. He works methodically and in the time he is here, we catch up on the children and their children.
People who work with wood, cutting trees or making our woodstove and chimneys burn safely do honorable work. We always heard that wood warms you 3 times, to cut it, stack it and then to finally burn it when out with my Dad clearing fence rows and cutting trees.
Sweating came easy for him. But not so much for me. Even on a hot day, the best I can muster are beads on my upper lip. I learned much from my parents, but I learned to value hard work from my Dad and to have worked with him building my home taught me to understand much more deeply how satisfying working hard can be.
After I retired from Miami Schools, I kept working with Cherokee Nation’s Service-Learning program for a number of years and as such often had the opportunity to hear Cathy Berger Kaye speak. One of her favorite poems became one of mine, “To Be of Use” and I think of her often when considering work and the great feeling of satisfaction it can provide.
"The work of the world is common as mud,
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
Has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
And continues…
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real."
-Marge Piercy
I still spend time with trees and you would imagine that to be true, being a “tree-hugger-type” but appreciate the gifts they give us, both shade but also warmth when burned.
My work continues with LEAD Agency advocating for the clean environment that has been unachievable as yet for Ottawa County residents and the creatures we share space with here. This work might be as common as mud, but more hands in the mud will be greeted with thanks as we do the work that is real!
Respectfully Submitted ~ Rebecca Jim
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