My late husband, Sterling, was a brilliant horticulturalist. Before we met in Tennessee he was the head gardener at Lockerly Arboretum in Milledgeville, Georgia. When he left there to move to Tennessee they gifted him with this gorgeous hand crafted shovel in honor of all of his thoughtful work helping to craft their botanical oasis. He would use the hell out of it and at the end of every day he would clean it off, sharpen the blade, and oil the wood. I hung it from our porch with fishing line with the sunset behind it and studio lights on it. The pine trees in the background are four times this size now.

He died from AIDS less than a year after I photographed it. Now this shovel hangs as a sacred object in our cabin, but I’m sure it misses his touch almost as much as I do.