The Man with the Hoe

What does someone who hoes actually do? If you have ever hoed yourself, or know what farmers and growers have to deal with, all kinds of associations come to mind. When I was young I worked a lot on my father’s land, among other things weeding. He grew various vegetables and all kinds of cut flowers. When the seedlings are small they look just as green as the weeds. That is why hoeing requires a sharp eye. Every good plant you hoe away means less income. This week the price of a cauliflower, for example, was €2.75. If in a time of crisis you miss this income a few times, you feel it.

I remember the long hot summer days when you had to keep your concentration, a hat on your head against the fierce sun, while your friends were at the swimming pool. But also the endless silence, the smell of the land, whirling dust, insects, reptiles and small field animals that became your friends… I can understand Francis of Assisi :). You can communicate with the animals in nature. If you have learned to listen to animals it is easier to listen to yourself. Everything and everyone has their own sound, but if you have not learned to distinguish one from the other, how will you ever notice the voice of God?

“Listen carefully to Me,” He says in the Bible. Every inhabitant of the earth is called to do so. “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’” Isa. 65:1.

The cogwheel says something about the foundations and about technique, worked-out precision. How do you have to sow and plant? How much space must there be between the rows so that you can work between them? With hoeing too, you have to know exactly what you should and should not do. Where do you begin and when are you done? How long can you wait until the next time? What are the sun and the rain doing,… When are the little plants so big that they cover the weeds themselves, so that hoeing is no longer needed?

The wood has been preserved with linseed oil. Without oil the wood is dry, grey and ready to decay. Now it has a future. The sculpture has become darker because of it, and in real life the man with the hoe is also tanned by the sun. This gives it its unique, healthy and attractive appearance.

Parts: hoe, cogwheel, beech wood.

Height: 38 cm.