Walking his dog Jacquie to the Agassiz-Harrison Observer newsroom office, Walt Hardinge found a four-leaf clover. Looking at the collection of foliage in his hand, it鈥檚 clear he found more than one.

鈥淪even actually,鈥� Hardinge said, sorting through the clovers on a bench in Pioneer Park. 鈥淚 just counted them before I got to the door.鈥�

Most of them were the famed four-leaf clovers, a harbinger of luck and preternatural sight. But a few were five-leaf clovers, which Hardinge likes to call 鈥淩ose Clovers.鈥� And others were what the 58-year-old Agassiz resident has nicknamed 鈥淧apillon Clovers,鈥� or butterfly clovers.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e usually the ones that have four leaves that are almost the same size and then a tiny one, like this one here,鈥� he said, holding up the clover. 鈥淏y the time you press them and they dry, they look like a butterfly. I can鈥檛 say that鈥檚 an official name or anything, but it sounded good at the time.鈥�

In the last month or so, Hardinge has found more than 219 clovers with four leaves or more.

鈥淚 find the darn things everywhere,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 went to the mailbox the other day 鈥� and I found one. Not even looking.鈥�

QUIZ:

Although Hardinge鈥檚 clover boom has only been recent, his history with four-leaf clovers started long ago, when he was an 11-year-old boy growing up in Scarborough, Ont.

One day, he was sitting on the grass in front of a neighbour鈥檚 house, brushing his hands through a patch of clover.

鈥淚 thought to myself, I wonder if four-leaf clovers actually exist,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淎nd just for the heck of it, I started brushing my hands through the clovers and seeing if I could find one. Sure enough, I actually did.鈥�

Hardinge ran inside to press his lucky find, and over the course of the next few weeks found 10 more. He pressed all his clovers in a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records, and then forgot about finding clovers for a while.

Over the course of the next 47 years, in rough points during Hardinge鈥檚 life, he would think back to the 11 four-leaf clovers he had once found 鈥� they became lost at some point during childhood 鈥� but didn鈥檛 expect to find anymore.

Then, in the spring of this year, Hardinge and his fianc茅 took Jacquie for a walk to the recreation centre. Just like he did 47 years ago, Hardinge brushed his hands through the clovers in the grass. And just like that, Hardinge found another four-leaf clover.

Since then, Hardinge has been finding groups of four-, five- and even six-leaf clovers. (On May 11, Hardinge found his first eight-leaf clover.) But with all that luck, Hardinge decided it was time to give some of it away. He has been handing out groups of three clovers to strangers and friends in an effort to share the good fortune.

鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing the joy I see in people鈥檚 faces when I give them one,鈥� he said.

READ ALSO:

Hardinge plans to keep 11 four-leaf clovers for himself, to replace the ones he lost, and 11 鈥渆xotics,鈥� but the rest he is giving away.

His father had a saying 鈥渢hat life was a little bit like a big pond. And if you鈥檙e brave, you will cast a pebble into that pond and see where the ripples go,鈥� he explained.

鈥淚 think this is my own way of throwing a pebble into a pond, only now I鈥檝e got about 200 of them that I鈥檓 giving way.

鈥淭wo hundred pebbles I鈥檓 throwing into that gigantic pond. And we鈥檒l see what happens.鈥�

grace.kennedy@ahobserver.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter