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Reminiscence
The Land Stewardship Committee of Mary Help of Christian Parsih is a group of volunteers that contribute 12 hours a month to work projects around the parish ground that are as varied as the skills of the members. An inventory of John Deere riding mowers, tractors, 4 wheel drive gators and trailers as well as assorted hand tools such as hedge trimmers, limb clippers, gas saws, to name a few provide all the heavy power this group needs to develop what was once a totally Brazilian pepper overgrown plot of land that held potential onl;y to the trained eye.
As time went by the membership has changed. The youngster have grown up and gone away to college and to marry and start their own lives. Older members have passed away or moved to other places for their retirement. With each loss of membership new members join but the "field experience" has to be renewed. Even parishioners not familiar with the Land Stewardship concept periodically ask questions such as "why is that sidewalk crooked", or "how strange that there should be a tree in that place." What a thrill it is to sit down with the newbies and tell the tales of old times when watering was done with milk containers of water or garbage cans hauled out in the back of pickup trucks. Pull up a tree stump and come sit by the fire and listen to the "way it was" back in the old days when Mary Help of Christians was hope, a dream, and a great expectation.
Why Is The Sidewalk Crooked In Front of Church?
Well, now that is an interesting question with a very interesting answer. When the social hall-church was first under construction it came to the attention the of the Dirty Dozen, that's the name they used to use in the beginning, that stakes mean just about everything in the construction industry. There are big ones, little ones, blue ones, red ones, stieel ones, just all kinds of stake. Yessir, engineers and construction people are big on stakes. Can't even go to lunch without a stake....they call them grubstakes! Heh, heh, heh.
Well now, where was I? Oh yes stakes. So anyway, one day the Dirty dozen notices a man driving stakes into the ground in front of the church. He pounded and pounded one stake after another from the road to the front gate. One of the Dirty Doze, the Big Weed the group used to call him, goes up to the stake pounder and says, "Whatcha doing?"
"I'm pounding stakes", says he, "Why any fool in the construction industry knows that. Cain't you see?"
"Well sure I can see that", says Big Weed "but whatcha going do after you're all done pounding?"
"I'm going to pour a heep of see-ment soon and spread it out nice and smooth and make a beautiful sidewalk" the stake pounder says with no small measure of pride.
"Well, now 'scuze me a moment here, but that don't make no sense a'tall, "says Big Weed, drifting deeper into the slang of the stake pounder. "Cuzin you be pouring that thar beautiful see-ment right atop of that thar pure as the dickens flat out ugly 75 year old tree. Now why would ye be a fixing to ruin that thar beautiful cee-ment on that sin-ugly tree?
"Nawww," says the stake pounder. "They be a cutting that tree down right smart jest 'bout any day now. Yessir, just cut it rot down to the ground, maybe even under the ground a spec or two to make the point. Them being lovers like me of beautiful see-ment sidewalks. Well, shucks, that thar tree jest g'win to drop needles all over the see-ment and stain it brown. Ne'r did take a liken' to trees since I fell out of one when I was a kid. Hit my head right hard I did. Why I didn't wake up for a week. Kane-cussing the doctor says. My mom, she was right sceered that I was agoing' to rest in the bossum of Abraham. But I fooled her and Abraham. Got up a week later and been a lover of see-ment ever since. See he'ah. See dem stakes how they make a path. Well sir, the see-ment truck comes up on whereever them stakes be, that be whar they pour the see-ment. "
Big weed looks at the path, straight as it can be going right through the 75 year old ugly cypress tree. "Hmmmm," he says to himself. "The stakes are everything." He was quick that Big Weed. That's why he got to be Big Weed.
Well sir, late that evening, long after the last police patrol left the grounds the Big Weed and a few of the smaller ragweeds, (that's the other members that surely hope they never become a Big Weed. scurried back over the property carrying of all things, fresh paint and stakes. They not being stake pounders it took a little time but not so long that they couldn't get down to Runyons before it closed and hoist a salute to ugly cypress trees and blue tipped stakes.
And that be how the sidewalk got to be crooked. 'Cuz theose Dirty Dozen people they couldn't lay out a straigt line if their life depended on it. Or the life of a 75 year old ugly cypress tree that drops needles on the clean beautiful sidewalk.
Why does the name Hoechoka appear so often? Is that Latin?
Well sir, you're just full of questions and that's another good one.
The word "Hoechoka" is a Native America Indian word that translates to "the center of the camp." It makes reference to a place where councils are held, news is announced, and important decisions rendered. If you saw the movie "DancesWith Wolves" you may recall that the People of the Sioux were chanting and dancing because no buffalo had appeared that year and winter was coming on. Lieutenant Dunbar rides foolishly into the center of the camp to announce that he just found the buffalo. He almost dies for his good deed but the news he brings is welcome and a wild celebration breaks out at Hoechoka...the center of the camp So where we are sitting, here by this fire, is Hoechoka in a manner of speaking. It's the geographic center of the grounds. That cement circle for the fire used to be a pile of coral rock marking the place where everybody stood that one afternoon long time ago. You know, there is a great story in Scripture, Genesis 33:21-22, where it is written:“ The plot of ground on which he pitched his tent he (Jacob) bought for a hundred pieces of bullion …He set up a memorial stone there and invoked ‘El, the God of Israel’.”
Scripture shows us that many times significant events and places were marked with a pile of stones, or cairns. We have such a place, at Hoechoka. And we are sitting around, right here. You probably noticed that there are no stones any longer. Well, they had to be moved because some children, being young and foolish walked along the top of the coral rocks singing and playing. Being young and foolish, and having their little minds on singing, one of them slipped from the top of the 6inch circle or coral rock and skinned his shins. Took all of one band-aid to close the wound.
Well that ended the rock circle. Parents being what they are to protect their kids the call went out to remove the rock circle. So it was. And a cement circle replaced it. Don't suppose you noticed that the cement circle is really the cut off end of a sewer pipe? Yep, thought you were pretty smart. Where'd we get the sewer pipe? That's another story for another day.
Tell us more about how the ground was purchsed
And the pastor asked, “Is this good ground? Can we make our parish home on this land.” And those gathered answered , “yes.” And they marked the place with a mound of stones. And today, it is known as the firepit. It is Hoechoka, the center of the camp, Mary Help of Christians, Archdiocese of Miami.
And that's the way it was and is. As the Archdiocese bought two more parcels of land to add to the first they were all consolidated into a single plat and it is called Hoechoka Hammock.
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