DIGGING
1,000,000 POUNDS OF DIRT

BY
JARED SIX

A Project to Help Demonstrate the Outrageous Amounts of Energy I Have On a
"Raw Food Diet"



"Groundbreaking"



I worked on this project when it was over 100 degrees outside, as well as when it was below 0 degrees, and I enjoyed the challenges that came with the changing weather instead of looking at them as reasons that I couldn't work on this project.



There was a really big dead tree in my yard, so I decided to dig a big grave for it. (After the tree was cut into pieces that I could actually lift or roll.)

Throwing all the logs into the hole was one of the funnest workouts I've ever had!



If you live in the city, don't bother spending $20 on a "Pull-Up Bar" that you install above a door in your house. Just go outside, dig up your city water pipes, and you've got yourself some free "Pull-Up Bars"!

On second thought, you might get more than a $20 fine from the city if you get caught doing this.

PLEASE DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!!!



Going deep!



Another pipe that I found deep underground.

PLEASE CALL BEFORE YOU DIG!!!



This hole resulted in some unexpected company.



BUSTED!

I guess that digging big holes in your backyard can be viewed as "suspicious behavior" from above.

A "Channel 10 New" helicopter showed up at my house while I was digging this big hole, and the pilot dropped down and circled the hole several times while looking right at me and yelling, but I couldn't hear what he was saying though due to how loud the chopper was, so I just waved and kept on digging :)



Well, well, well,

I dug a well without even trying to!

My intention with this hole was to simply dig the deepest hole that I could, and it honestly never even occurred to me that I could hit water by doing so.

Once I got really deep, I noticed that the dirt was starting to have some moisture to it, and as I continued digging deeper, I eventually found myself standing in a small puddle of water, and I kept digging until the water was up to my ankles, then my knees, and eventually my waist!



When I was digging in the waist-high water, I kept getting this really eerie feeling that the ground below me was going to collapse at any moment, and that I was going to fall into some kind of underground river. (Which might sound silly, but I actually had to keep a rope tied around my waist just to help set my mind at ease about it.)

It's also kind of cool to know that if I ever don't have running water, I could dig a well.



THE UNDERTAKER
By now, all of my neighbors must have been convinced that I was burying dead people in my backyard, so I decided to prove them right!

This small hole was the last hole that I dug, but before I filled it back up with dirt, I used it as a "grave" to bury a box containing all of the old pictures of me that I could find, as well as all of my old journals, and a few other things from my past that I wanted to let go of now that I was becoming such a new person thanks to this diet.

R.I.P.

"The old and limiting beliefs about myself and the world which will no longer serve me as I continue to grow and evolve forward into a higher version of myself"

---

PROJECT COMPLETE
According to the "National Institute of Standards and Technology", 1 cubic foot of dirt weighs 120 pounds. I dug and measured dozens of holes during this project, and they collectively added up to over 10,000 cubic feet, which would put me well over 1,000,000 pounds. (Plus, I had to fill all of the holes back up after I dug them, which means that I technically had to move all of the dirt twice.) So, I feel confident in saying that I dug 1,000,000 pounds of dirt during this project.



A total of 4 shovels and 1 rake broke on me while working on this project.



All of the rocks that I dug up during this project.



I decided to use the rocks to make a border around the land that I did this project, and I'm happy to say that what for many years had been an empty backyard will now be an organic vegetable garden.



"Prehistoric Pet Rock"



Heart shaped rocks that I dug up.

---

So what was the point of digging 1,000,000 pounds of dirt?

There were certainly a lot of physical benefits that I received from doing this project. (Like getting lots of exercise, fresh air, and sunshine.)

I also had a lot of fun doing this and am seriously wondering how on Earth "digging" hasn't become a competitive sport in some way.

And now that I have done something this big, I know that I can certainly handle any smaller challenges that come my way.

But I didn't do this project for any of these reasons. And digging 1,000,000 pounds of dirt wasn't the final goal of this project.

This project was about "Love".

If someone out there sees these images and feels inspired to exercise, or start their own garden, or simply buy some grapes the next time they go grocery shopping, then I put this extra energy that I have been raving about to good use, and I accomplished what I wanted to with this project.

This diet has done amazing things for me physically, but it has also done amazing things for me mentally...

It has helped me to believe that everyone has the potential to change their life for the better, and it has also helped me to believe that everyone has the potential to change the world for the better, and now that I believe it, I'm going for it!

---

BACK HOME NEXT