Ulog No. 7: "(Not) Tending the Garden"

Parndarna Wildlife Park, Kangaroo Island, South Australia

Have you ever thought that the Garden of Eden was a place of perfection, a sanctuary of balance and harmony and a utopian paradise? I thought everything in the Garden was like magical. Trees would grow and bear fruit by themselves. Animals coexisted with one another, for example, wolves and sheep would eat and drink together on a field. There were no carnivorous animals. The plains and the fields and all the mountains around were just covered in green. They didn't need mowing at all, and that God would just send rain to water all the lands of the earth. Practically, there was no need for maintenance at all.

But the Bible says in Genesis 2:15, God placed Adam into the Garden and delegated the task of "working it and taking care of it". The Lord God even brought all the animals and the birds in the sky to Adam to see what he would name them. And Adam gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals (Genesis 2:19-20).

Yes, even with a paradise such as the Garden of Eden, there was still a need to work it and take care of it. If Adam would leave the Garden unattended, it would become patches of overgrown weed.

Just like our backyard. I looked at it and felt bad for not having been able to maintain it. My mother-in-law would not be impressed. She used to live in this house and everything was immaculate.

So it is confirmed that I am not really obsessive-compulsive, because it does not really bother me that the weeds growing on our backyard are as high as my hips and some are even taller than me. The thing is, I really don't like gardening. I grew up in Manila where we didn't even have a single plant to take care of. Coming to Australia and having been blessed to have a spacious front and back yard, the least (or best) thing I could do is tend the garden.

My husband, on the other hand, is always very busy with a lot of things. He does his weekly juice rounds, which is his source of income. Then, at the moment, he is helping out at my auntie's house do some repairs and renovations. He is also busy fixing our boat, so that hopefully this year, we could take the boat out to the sea or the Murray River.

The Murray River in Morgan, South Australia

Because we both want to do this again before we even get too old:

Now, I am definitely challenged to transform our backyard into a little pretty haven. I know my husband and I will get there. I just don't know how long it will take, but once it's done, I will definitely share it here on #steemit. We will eventually fix our yard before we reward ourselves with some luxuries in life. This will be our motivation. We can't just go out, have fun and leave our house in its messy state. Having a beautiful garden will be a reward itself.

Aside from having the initiative to get up and mow the lawn, what else can you suggest that we do on our backyard? I notice that there is a big patch in the middle where the lawn or grass doesn't grow, only weeds. Anyway, please leave a comment below for any feedback or input on gardening. Thank you for reading.