One Square Foot of Earth
Today I did something that I haven’t done in a few years. I spent twenty minutes sitting on a stool in my back yard staring at a patch of ground one square foot in size.
The soil in this small patch of earth is dark gray in color and is made up of millions of tiny grains of sand and other small pieces of organic matter. The organic matter is a darker color than the sand and is in the form of many irregular shapes, unlike the grains of sand which appear to the naked eye to be round.
In the middle of this patch is an ant hill. Not a very big one but an interesting one anyway. The sand that makes up the ant hill is a lighter color than the surrounding dirt. It appears to be composed completely of grains of sand that the little ants have piled up, without any of the organic matter. I wonder what they do with the organic matter. The ant hill is not cone shaped like many of the hills I’ve seen before. It’s shaped more like a crescent with a hole in the middle. There are about a dozen ants, dull orange in color and about one quarter inch in length, working around the ant hill. Some of them are carrying out bits of sand while others are carrying in what looks to me like some kind of seeds.
There are many leaves, from an old live oak tree, scattered around the ant hill. These leaves are long and oval shaped. The top side is a nice brown color with an underside that looks tan. The leaves have dark brown veins running through them. As I sit and watch, mother nature adds a few more leaves to my “one square foot.”
One of the local cats stopped and wanted a little attention from me. She flicked her tail back and forth across the ant hill smoothing it out. Lot’s of ants are coming out of the hill now. I bet those ants are mad as hell. I don’t think I’ll stick around to find out.
I enjoyed the time I spent watching this small patch of ground. It’s not often I slow down and take the time to really look at the wonders of the natural world. Perhaps I should do this more often.
Note: I wrote this last year but missplaced it, along with several other essays, but better late than never.
The soil in this small patch of earth is dark gray in color and is made up of millions of tiny grains of sand and other small pieces of organic matter. The organic matter is a darker color than the sand and is in the form of many irregular shapes, unlike the grains of sand which appear to the naked eye to be round.
In the middle of this patch is an ant hill. Not a very big one but an interesting one anyway. The sand that makes up the ant hill is a lighter color than the surrounding dirt. It appears to be composed completely of grains of sand that the little ants have piled up, without any of the organic matter. I wonder what they do with the organic matter. The ant hill is not cone shaped like many of the hills I’ve seen before. It’s shaped more like a crescent with a hole in the middle. There are about a dozen ants, dull orange in color and about one quarter inch in length, working around the ant hill. Some of them are carrying out bits of sand while others are carrying in what looks to me like some kind of seeds.
There are many leaves, from an old live oak tree, scattered around the ant hill. These leaves are long and oval shaped. The top side is a nice brown color with an underside that looks tan. The leaves have dark brown veins running through them. As I sit and watch, mother nature adds a few more leaves to my “one square foot.”
One of the local cats stopped and wanted a little attention from me. She flicked her tail back and forth across the ant hill smoothing it out. Lot’s of ants are coming out of the hill now. I bet those ants are mad as hell. I don’t think I’ll stick around to find out.
I enjoyed the time I spent watching this small patch of ground. It’s not often I slow down and take the time to really look at the wonders of the natural world. Perhaps I should do this more often.
Note: I wrote this last year but missplaced it, along with several other essays, but better late than never.
