Unearthed

There is much awareness about being environmentally conscious and recycling, composting, repurposing. It is not acceptable to throw garbage out your window as you drive down the road from the fast food joint. It is imperative that you follow the blue box guidelines and schedule for your municipality. We are (on an individual citizen basis) more aware of how we treat our earth.

Today, as I was trying to finish a task on my to do list, I discovered that not everyone has cared as much about "garbage" pick up. I was doing the last round of clean up on a flower bed up against the east wall of our house, digging out remaining lily of the valley roots, cranes bill roots, and tiny bulbs of what I call grape hyacinths but may be mistaken. For every couple shovel fulls  of soil that I turned over and hunted through, I easily found a couple of nails, screws, pieces of broken glass, or plastic.

Here is a sample of what I unearthed.

Some nails are recent, others are square nails of a much older vintage. It was rather shocking to find the head! Of course it is from a Fisher Price little person (part of my childhood)! I was excited about the coin, but alas, it was a 1993 penny.

In all the years that I have been digging in the dirt, I have found many things. I often find pieces of plates, cups, or crockery. I almost always find square headed nails. I have wanted to find native arrow heads made from chipped stone, but I have never been that lucky. There was a collection at the farm that I presume were found in the fields, but that was in a different part of Ontario.

I could never understand the pieces of plates and such. Why were they just tossed outside? It's not like they would break down and become part of the earth again.

I know some gardeners read my blog, so please share some of the unusual things you have unearthed.