From Bamboo Jungle to Open Sky: How a Local Hero Restored Light to a Family's Garden
Decades after a father's garden grew wild into a dense forest, his family faced an overwhelming challenge: a giant bamboo grove that blocked all light and seemed impossible to manage. With the right help, however, no problem proved insurmountable.
When Jessie Cole was a baby, her parents planted a garden that would eventually become a self-sustaining forest. Her father, a man of action, shaped their habitat with enthusiasm, turning dreams into reality overnight. After his passing in her late teens, the garden began to surrender to the trees, with sections becoming unmanageable despite ongoing efforts by Jessie and her mother to cut back growth and protect their home.
The Rise of the Giant Bamboo
Among the trees were several stands of clumping bamboo, including one "giant" variety planted on a low plateau at the property's edge. Initially small, it grew to majestic proportions—at least twenty metres tall and wide, with rich dark-green stalks reaching for the sky. The family cherished its beauty, unable to foresee the chaotic mess it would become.
Over the years, multiple catastrophic floods, a drought, and a cyclone left the area in ruins. Towering stalks snapped and bent, littering the ground with heavy debris, while fallen trees added to the impenetrable terrain. The family sought quotes from tree-loppers and machinery operators, but no one wanted the job due to its complexity and unpredictable costs.
A Turning Point with a Quiet Helper
Last winter, they heard of a local man with a big machine. He had declined the job years earlier due to inadequate equipment, but now returned with a larger excavator. Surveying the wild disarray, he simply said, "Yeah, I can do that." His quiet, confident demeanor offered unexpected hope.
The work was delicate and precise, with the excavator plucking each stalk from the ground, roots and all, like unpicking a hem. Over days, giant stalks piled up for burning, supervised safely in rainy midwinter conditions by the man, who was part of the Rural Fire Service. Finally, the last stalks were removed, revealing a vast sky that had been hidden for years.
Transformation and Reflection
A week later, the man returned to light a controlled fire, feeding bamboo stacks to the flames with the excavator. What had been mountains of debris turned to ash, reducing an insurmountable problem to nothing. Jessie reflected on her father, imagining how much he would have enjoyed the transformation and the restored sky.
This story highlights how things can get away from us, leading to paralysis and loss of control. Yet, with the right helper and tools, even the most impassable obstacles can be overcome. The sky is always there, waiting to be seen again.
