Today I removed the last of the split oak posts and homemade rails between the posts in Doetinchem. I filled the long deep holes left by the posts with earth, leaves and pine needles so that people wouldn’t unknowingly step into them and twist an ankle (like I almost did). A partially broken bucket served as an admirable tool to empty the soaking basin of rainwater, soggy leaves and knobby twigs. All of the unusable and/or partially rotten wooden dividers and ground logs found a new place just outside of the forest ready to be re-used later as compost or as firewood. After several hours of building up a sweat in the chilly air I turned around to look at the place that had been home in the past few years to several thousand logs and even more mushrooms. It had been turned back into a nonchalant forest, timeless and busy with growing old.
Goodbye Doetinchem, thanks for looking after me so well.
photo: colleagues in Doetinchem
