Blackberry, barberry and bucket loads of patience
As I write this I’m in the middle of ‘pruning’ the overgrown blackberry and barberry along the water race. The Council requires us to keep the water race clear to ensure it flows to farms further down the line. I thought I was responsible for the whole section bordering my property but it turns out I’m only responsible for one little four metre corner. The farmer over the back fence is responsible for the rest, and it’s completely overgrown. He hasn’t done anything in the two and a half years I’ve been here to keep it clear.
Unfortunately for me, this means I have blackberry and barberry growing through the fence, and establishing itself on my property. The barberry is also growing between the wires of the fence and pulling the fence over. In my last post I wrote about expressing my anger and attacking the barberry with my pruning saw. A month later, I’m still working on it!
Spikes and thorns
It’s a horrible job. Barberry thorns are about 3 cm long and very sharp. I have to wear two pairs of gloves, the outer ones being leather, to be able to move it without getting damaged. I have protective goggles, a hat, and my trusty pink overalls to stop me from getting spiked.
In between the barberry is incredibly well established blackberry. In some places it’s 2-3 metres tall with stems as thick as my thumb. And, of course, covered in thorns. It whips around and catches me from behind, wraps around my ankles, gets stuck in my overalls and gloves, and when I throw it to the top of the burn pile, it inevitably gets caught on some part of me, meaning I have to spend the next 10 minutes trying to disentangle myself.
I’ve been kindly loaned a battery powered hedge trimmer to prune the blackberry. It’s ten times faster than using my pruning shears - totally brilliant - but it’s incredibly heavy. I have to take frequent breaks and rest my arms. If nothing else I’m getting a total body workout from all this!
Finding my own path
It reminds me of when I first started on my spiritual journey. I was shown an image of a forest with brambles sprawling all through it. The path that most people took was clear (practically paved actually), and it was right in front of me. But that wasn’t my path. No, no, no. My path lead me directly into the blackberry. I had to create my own path and find my own way through.
I’m not sure why it was this way. There have been many times that I’ve wished to be on the beaten path, to not have to fight with the tangled mess of thorns, of feeling like I’m not making any headway.
There have been times when I’ve pictured myself just sitting on the ground, in amongst the blackberry too tired to go on, with no idea where I’m going, what direction to head in or whether there is even a place of freedom on the other side.
After sufficient and frequent rests (much like the pruning), I’ve carried on in one form or another, resurrected my resilience and motivation and kept moving forward. And I have made headway. I can feel that things are changing. It’s been very slow but the brambles seem to be easing just a little bit. Just with my hedge in my physical life, I am making progress.
Creating order out of chaos
Where it was a nightmare of tangles and uncertainty, clarity is slowly beginning to form. The edges of the hedge are beginning to show themselves. Where there was chaos, order is arriving. Where I couldn’t see over or through or around the brambles, I’m now getting glimpses of what might be ahead. Nothing solid yet. Just flashes of potential, a line of sight that may or may not lead to something.
As with the blackberry by the water race, the key for me has been to stop and rest when I need to, and then to pick up the metaphorical hedge trimmer once again and have another go.
On the physical blackberries, I have a great technique with the hedge trimmer now, which is very much about using the weight of it to slice down through the blackberry at frequent intervals, and then slicing across once that is done. Much easier than trying to slice across the tops and pull everything off. This way, the small chunks just drop down. It’s about allowing the weight of the hedge trimmer to do the work for me, rather than fighting it. Allowing is always easier than resisting or fighting things.
Learning as I go
I’ve learnt some key things along my journey, both with the physical brambles and the spiritual ones:
Protection is important
Work with the tools you have
Allow them to do the work
If you’re fighting it you are just making it harder for yourself
Little and often is better than one big bash
Rest is important
Always go with the flow
You’ll learn new things along the way
Everything is evolving
Patience is essential
Patience
Without patience, one might give up and walk away half way through. I’d have a half completed hedge, and probably more mess than any achievement. It’s taking patience, tenacity and determination to tackle the brambles both physically and spiritually. I’ve been spiked many times, exhausted many times, ready to give up at others, but when I stand back and look at the hedge from a broader perspective, I can see the progress I’m making and the potential that is possible.
If you have a bramble hedge that you are dealing with, whether it’s physical or spiritual, take a step back every now and then. Look at the bigger picture, recognise the progress you are actually making, and then keep going. It will all become clear over time. It just takes patience!
Kàren
