A FEW MONTHS AGO, my wife was lamenting the state of our veggie garden. We’d had a great summer of bounty: plenty of fruit and vegetables had come from the soil on our property and we had enjoyed many meals with everything on our plates either grown or hunted … something we find incredibly satisfying.
But on this particular occasion, things were looking somewhat grim in the veggie patch. Our summer produce was looking pretty spent – the tomatoes had seen better days, the spinach had gone to seed and the beans were looking limp and wasted. In fact, the only things that were thriving … were the weeds.
But before you’d have me reach for the Round-Up, consider this: What is it about weeds that causes them to flourish, when everything around them is dying? I mean, they’re built for survival! They need far less looking-after than our veggies. They don’t need fertilizing or bug-sprays. They’re not susceptible to powdery mildew, copper deficiencies or a myriad of other potential vegetable issues. They’ll thrive in the wet … or the dry! And seem to have adapted to whatever environmental conditions they find themselves in. Talk about resilient!
And man, can they reproduce! There’s no need to carefully plant them out in special ‘seed-raising’ beds and tend to their every need. They simply toss out a gazillion seeds, let the wind or birds do their thing, wait for the right conditions and then … BAM! Weed city!
Weeds are survival experts … they’re tenacious … they’re generous … in fact, they’re everything I’d like to be!
Except hated.
Now where’s that Round-Up?
