Septic System to Sunflowers?!

If you live in the country, there is most likely a piece of country life you choose to ignore but pray never fails... your septic system. We all like to take showers, wash dishes, and flush toilets without much thought, right? Much to our dismay, last fall our septic system of over fifty years failed! She had a long and faithful existence – and needed to be replaced.

It was nearing winter in the Inland Northwest, which means snow and freezing temperatures were just around the corner. We were under a time crunch. Could a new system be designed? Approved? Installed? Inspected? And up and running before the holidays?

After weeks of bailing water, rationing water, and counting the drops of water going down the drain – the big equipment arrived! The job was under way.

When I say, “Big equipment” I mean “BIG equipment!!” Not your typical garden tractor for this job. Our garden fence was ripped out, our apple trees were ripped out, a mountain of gravel was the new view out our dining room window – but the task was accomplished by the Thanksgiving Holiday – an extra blessing to count on the day of Thanks-giving, to be sure.

But what of our garden?! Now it was a pile of rocks otherwise known as a drain field?! Nothing too redemptive about that – except it being one of the prices to pay for modern conveniences. However, all that big equipment unknowingly did a little gardening for us.

Fall turned to winter, then spring – and while walking past the rocks on our new drain field, I noticed something that didn't look like a weed. What?! A “zucchini” plant?! As it turns out – there were many many “zucchini” plants – I was so excited!

Interestingly, the so called “zucchini” began turning their little faces to the sun – hmmmmm. That was very “un-zucchini” like – they must be... Sunflowers!! I had always wanted a sunflower field, and now the little flowers were coming up everywhere! Could it be?! There were far more sunflowers than I had ever ever actually planted around our 6 acres! I needed to pull some out there were so many! I was afraid they were going to choke one another out... The big equipment must have helped "plant" some volunteer sunflower seeds!

Now it is summer, and my first sunflower is beginning to bloom. I have taken to calling my sunflower field “the choir” because their faces are always turning to the sun, their "conductor." They are a daily reminder that while life is not always predictable, it is certainly redemptive. We were not given “lemons” in which to make “lemonade.” No, we were given a new septic system – which gave us sunflowers! Surely, just as sweet a gift...