Dig In: Let’s Get Back to Playing in the Mud Again!

Mud, although slippery, wet, and generally disliked, is the foundation of life. As dramatic as that sounds, I want you to think really quick about everything the earth is: a huge ball of rocks, magma, mud, and water floating through an endless universe. Life can’t form in the magma, nor in water alone. There has to be a common ground for everything to build itself on and the start of all of it is mud. Despite the people who turn their nose at the mere thought of dirt or its wet counterpart, I know plenty who can’t wait for the next opportunity to dig into it.

Gardening and landscapes are some of the best ways to see what mud can provide. The life growing out of it can’t survive solely in dry dirt or water. As mentioned before, neither can provide the necessary components by themselves. There has to be a mix between the two to create a balance of nutrients and structure for the ecosystem. When gardening, the best time to get plants in the ground is when the soil is damp. It’s easier to move and pack in so that when it settles later due to rain or watering there’s less movement happening. The opposite can happen as well. When there’s little to no vegetation in an area the mud becomes too loose, as rain breaks apart the soil and shifts, sections can break away leading to landslides that wreak havoc on anything in its path. But mud creates new opportunities for growth to happen, even in the unlikeliest of places.

Archeologists are always digging around to find pieces of the past. Quite often dig sites offer a look into how civilizations used to be and how ours evolved from old practices. Mud bricks were a common find as that was the easiest way to build houses or walls due to better access to materials. Take some mud, mix with straw or another binding agent, bake, and now you have a brand new brick to add to your structure. It was also used as insulation for log cabins in the not too distant past.

Along the same lines clay, not quite the same as mud, was molded and shaped to create tools, vases, and other household items we’re still finding to this day. The oldest things we have that aren’t biological in matter are usually found as a baked piece of mud, whether through a building or a pot. Even today we make things with mud thanks to pottery still being a common medium for artists to express their desires or emotions through something they can mold and hold. And if you think about it God was an artist as well.

In Genesis we’re told how God shaped humanity out of mud and clay, breathing life into us, the clay pieces made in his image. I was often told that as a child I absolutely loved playing in the mud. No outfit was safe when I spotted a mud puddle. Watch any child that’s not behind a screen and more often than not they’ll gravitate towards the dirt. Perhaps our minds remember some feeling of creation from Him that leads us to try our own hands at it. Obviously we can’t make them come to life, but do you remember how fun it was to create mud pies or mud figures and present them to your parents or loved ones? The joy of getting your hands dirty to flex your imagination and feel the way everything moved between your fingers. I think somewhere along the way we lost those small moments. Not everyone has, of course, but so many I’ve seen focus so hard on what they don’t want to be or don’t want to pass on that they forget to let themselves just be. Children are cooped up and parents try to filter what they learn but that does them no good. Let them out to enjoy the sunshine or rain. Make a mud kitchen for them and delight in the mud pies they bring you. Help them make a garden of their own because one day they may not carry that same whimsy they do today. From dust we’re made and to dust we’ll return, but until then let’s keep playing in the mud.

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Rose Anderson

As a recent college graduate looking to expand my horizons and gain some experience, I’m raring to go, ready to learn. At first I worked for a Records Office at the university I attended until I switched to the job I have now: a barista. Although I enjoy my work, it’s not where I want to stay, and I hope being able to write here will secure me a foothold in the writing world. Since writing has always been one of my passions, along with reading and drawing, I started dabbling with anything and everything to find my niche. From horror to slice of life, I enjoy seeing what can flow from my pen when I sit down to write. But nothing can truly top the joy I get from seeing the reactions my writings can gain. My goal for this section of life is to be able to find a more permanent place to settle in, but I know I still have a long way to go. However, that won’t stop me from enjoying every step I take to get there.