Digging

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One of my favorite activities has always been digging and playing in the dirt. When I was younger I used to play in my "digging hole" for hours by myself and now as an adult I love to garden. Does anyone else share my interest for digging?

Yes! I used to love to dig!

But I was more interested in a related activity, building things. I built hay forts, dams in streams, log shelters in the woods, sand castles, mud castles, "irrigation systems" on the beach, cairns, stone walls, etc. I've still done these things as an adult, but it's not as convenient now that I live in the city.

Yes; when I was much, much younger, I used to create incredibly intricate settings in dirt using a butter knife and a spoon as my primary crafting implements. Typically these would be centered around some other play item, like Matchbox cars or plastic soldiers; but the amount of time, effort, and detail that I put into my little "dirt cities" was probably inordinate. If a hose was available, many of them would even include "water features". I've enjoyed creating my own worlds all of my life, and I suppose these early works in dirt fall into that category; nowadays this mostly takes place in my imagination.

I also discovered the "dribble" technique of building sandcastles, where I would use my hands to scoop up sand with a generous amount of water in it, and dribble the sand/water little bits at a time to create the most wondrously strange looking structures. I've never seen anybody else build a sand castle like that, but I'm sure others have.

Several (not all) of the building activities EvilKimEvil mentions were also things that I enjoyed; I like to decorate my yard with little cairns to this day. I've been known to travel up into the mountains to gather smoothed, flat, rounded rocks from mountain creeks for this purpose. Balast from railroad tracks is another source of pilliage for making stone arrangements on a slighly smaller scale, say one for my desk (held together with little dabs of silicone). Unfortunatly my autistic son has an OCD thing for messing with and throwing rocks, so much of what I build is quickly destroyed.

Now that you mention it, digging, moving and crafting dirt, feeling my digging or crafting implements working the dirt, has always felt very therapeutic to me; I wonder if it is a type of stim?

Good fortune,

- Icarus has the power to turn dirt into worlds...

Oooh yes! not done these for years! thanks for bringing back the memories!
I think all kids love this stuff though NT as well as AS

That reminds me of something. A few years ago, a friend told me that he used to see a therapist who had him do "play therapy" with a box of sand. As they talked, he would play with the sand and at the end of the session, she would analyze his creation. I think that sounds like fun, but I'm not sure I'd want my sand sculptures to be analyzed.

Digging as a type of stim: very good point Icarus! From my personal experiences, I have to give a definite YES, because gardening or, when I was younger in my "digging hole", is/was instantly therapeutic after particularly rough days.

As for alexbeetle's assertion that digging is both an NT and Aspie trait, I'd have to say that he's absolutely correct, but I think that, as Icarus has noted, Aspies might do it as a stim/obsession.

Heh, ya im with u on that 1. I loved building forts when I was a kid, in fact, ususally I was the one with the ideas on building these forts, and the other kids would eather watch or participate. The irrigation system on the beach thing, very funny you say that because in the past I have made such things too, some went quite a distance, so carrying water from the lake to the top was a challenge, lucky we always had plenty of people interested in helping.

I miss those days so damn much...

When I was a kid we used to go to the beach in the Summer. Sandcastles were OK but what I really liked digging were tunnels. The two challenges were a) dig as deep as possible and b) get as close to the top surface as possible without the whole thing collapsing.

One of the few happy memories from my childhood.

Ed Almos

I used to dig holes in the garden when I was little, and still enjoy making and then bursting dams, especially in heavy rain.

I also used to make sandcastle replicas of Edward I's castles in Wales. Harlech was a really satisfying one to build, I seem to remember

These days I dig horse muck on a regular basis.

[quote="Icarus_Falling"]
I also discovered the "dribble" technique of building sandcastles, where I would use my hands to scoop up sand with a generous amount of water in it, and dribble the sand/water little bits at a time to create the most wondrously strange looking structures. I've never seen anybody else build a sand castle like that, but I'm sure others have. "/quote]

I love dribble castles! I could make them all day long and never get tired of it. Digging
in the dirt is great too. Both things are so relaxing and satisfying to me.

When I was a kid I loved digging under the front porch and in the yard around a large tree that had a big hole in the base of the trunk where my spacemen and cowboys lived. I loved the way dirt smelled and felt in my hands. I liked to sift it through a piece of screen and make it fine and powdery. I like to mix water with it and make little mud cakes.

When I got older, naturally I didn't play in the dirt anymore, until, one day when I was very depressed my husband suggested that I try planting some flowers. Since I had never done any gardening, I was reluctant and whiney. I told him I couldn't do that because I didn't know how. He went inside, came back out with a big spoon, put it in my hand and said "Just dig". So I started digging and planting petunias and marigolds. It felt so nostalgic and wonderful and therapeutic. That was about 30 years ago. I've been digging (gardening) ever since.

Also, I love to work with clay. It's like playing with mud.

I used to have to dig because i did a Horticulture Course at College.

yes,this is a habit with am to,use sticks to dig up holes,it's very calming,was regulary told off at the old home for doing this,said it was messing it up,so what,the place is getting knocked down and its a mess already.

I made dribble castles too! My mom would always tell me they looked disgusting, but I loved them.

I had a sandbox, I would build a fortress for my plastic army men and attack them with my other army.

I also distinctly remember in the fourth grade going on a week-long shooltrip to the beach. And I directed my some of classmates to build a small portcity . With little creeks and tiny towers next to them to push over and dam the river in case it would flood. And then someone else was in charge of building the big castles.

I've been craving to dig a bunker. I don't know why. I just want to go down to my mother's relatives' land in Gaspe and convince them that they need a bunker, and build it.