Tuesday, July 28, 2009

To heal up and harrow over

A former colleague of mine in the newspaper business had a saying when someone had their feelings hurt. He would say that the person needed to "heal up and harrow over."

I tried to find the origin of that phrase without much luck. The best I can tell it seems to be an old farming phrase having to do with letting plowed ground lay fallow so it can be planted once again.

When the timber cutters came last fall with their heavy bulldozers and giant log skidders, it tore up Deerfield mightily. I wondered if the land would ever heal.

Not to worry. The hillside in the photo above looked barren of all growth in October. It's difficult to walk through now. By the end of summer, it will be impossible to tell that big machines had ever been here.

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