If it’s not the weeds, it’s the bugs or the watering! As an organic farmer, it can be hard to see the bounty when you’re trying to catch up as everything grows exponentially with the warm nights. Weeds, especially, love these conditions and I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been stung by wasps this year.
But I was reminded of a visit I had, many years ago, with Robin Wheeler, author of “Food Security for the Faint of Heart”. When I asked her how she composted her weeds, she looked at me with surprise. “I leave them where they grow!”, she replied. “They’re nutrient accumulators. Why would I carry them out of the garden?”. I’d never met anyone who embraced her weeds quite the way she did and I have to see, it wasn’t until this year that I fully appreciated her viewpoint.
So, instead of cursing at all the horsetail that is coming up in my carrot bed, I pull the plants and am grateful for the silica that they’ve brought up to the surface. Same with thistles! With their deep taproots, they accumulate a whole host of nutrients from deep in the soil and bring it up closer to where my veggies can now use them.
Then there are the weeds that we can actually eat. If you’ve been to my market stand, you may see any number of “weeds” for sale. I sell Golden purslane, amaranth (aka pigweed), and lambsquarters as greens. Sheep sorrel and chickeweed are common ingredients in our salad mix and I am grateful for the patches that are currently growing very well in the heat of the greenhouses.
And despite the painful bites from the wasps, I had a chance to see them work their magic around my kale plants the other day. With their carnivorous appetites, they were picking off the cabbageworm and aphids! I understand they are very good pollinators too!
So, instead of constantly fighting against my “enemies”, here I am embracing them! It sure lifts a weight off my shoulders! What? And yes, even when weeds go to seed and I haven’t had a chance to pull them up, instead of pulling out my hair, I think: “I’ve just seeded my next batch of mulch plants!”
-30-
