Worthwhile weeding

I love the fruit of the garden, but weeding has never been one of my favorite things to do. There are a lot more interesting things in the this world than spending a couple of hours ripping plants out of the earth. Sure, it is good exercise. Yes, weeding leaves the nutrients and the garden space for plants that we eat.

It is still a pretty boring task.

Earlier this morning, I tackled the Queen Anne's Lace that invades our garden ever year. It comes up through the fences to the north and the east. We have always had a big problem with it around our grapevines because the property behind that is a rental, and none of the tenants have ever cared enough to get out there and weed the fence line. I rip it out a couple of times a year, and, slowly, it is making a difference.

Today, I discovered an extremely unexpected benefit to weeding. As I ripped out a clump of the Queen Anne's Lace, something in the roots caught my eye. Small, round, gold. It was a little ring, tangled up in the roots of the weeds, buried underground for the last four or five years.

How do I know it was buried for only four or five years?

This is not just any ring. It is a ring that my godmother gave me when I was a young child, one I wore for years until I outgrew it as a young teen. I gave it to the girls when they became old enough that it fit. One of them lost it a number of years back.

I cannot believe that I dug this ring up with the weeds. I have been convinced for years that it was long gone and would never be seen again. I guess there are some benefits to doing a hated task like weeding, eh? My little sapphire ring is now tucked away in my jewelry box to await a future granddaughter.

I do hope that she will be more careful with it.


*This photo is not of the ring in situ, obviously. Had I realized what it was while it was still all tangled in the roots, I would have run in for the camera to photograph it there. Instead, I stuck it on another plant to photograph it.