weed
wēd/
noun
- 1.a wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants.
verb
- 1.remove unwanted plants from (an area of ground or the plants cultivated in it).
"I was weeding a flower bed"
My time in Mexico was amazing, blissful, and educational. I learned heaps about the differences between our cultures, and especially the generosity that exists North and South of the arbitrary border. I went to Mexico with maybe $300 in my pocket, which is a lot for me, and even more when the exchange is 20 to 1. The exchange, however, allowed me to give my money more freely than I may have thought possible here with giving dollars. I was able to buy a roof for a friend's house, get some bikes for some kids, build a compost system, and then just hook random people up with a bunch of cash.
In this whole process I forgot that I would be returning to the U.S. and had a 2,500 mile bike ride ahead of me. I crossed the border with 400 pesos in my wallet, which when I exchanged it with a fellow here it turned into $20 USD. So here I was in Arizona with enough money for about two days of regular frugal living. I am pretty resourceful, so dumpsters are groovy, folks are generous when asked, and intelligence plus good timing can amount to a lot sometimes. Regardless, I needed to make a repair on the bike and had to ship a box of stuff home, which in the end requires some greenbacks.
I made it to Safford, AZ where I inquired with some folks about part-time work and ended up getting a gig pulling some weeds at a rental property. Since I was a kid, pulling weeds has been one of my least favorite activities. As I have grown and have learned systems of plant stewardship and have developed a system that makes sense to me, pulling weeds has become even more absurd in my eyes. Yet, when you've gotta make moves in the world sometimes we have to do stuff we don't exactly love. The redeeming factor in the pulling of the weeds is that my host Jay is going to come collect the green waste, chip it and turn it into compost. So not all is lost in the immediate act.
But as I was pulling these plants from the place they chose to grow, knowing they would positively effect the ecology of that particular location, a piece of me reached the end of its tolerance. That piece is the world's misunderstanding of the word Weed and the huge effects that has on the planet. I wrote a paper in school about the Dandelion, prompted by the school's practice of weed management against the beloved medicinal plant, which I will post in conjunction with this essay. My feelings around the misconception of weeds has only become more resolved and possibly more urgent now.
What is a weed? The definition above says it is an unwanted plant, but I would argue strongly that it is only unwanted because it is misunderstood. I think currently the metaphor of immigrants could be placed in here and draw the same conclusion. Do we want to eradicate immigrants from this country, Natives, Africans, Latinos as well because they are in competition to the cultivated culture of White America, or is the culture of these people just misunderstood and thus rejected by the cultivated "majority'? I know farmers who couldn't identify more than a dozen plants, a dozen being a high number, yet they know they need to eradicate that unknown plant asap because it is stealing nutrients from their crops?
The truth is that every plant, in my eyes is a blessing and can be utilized to create fertility and balance when diversity may be lacking. The "weed" growing next to your tomatoes, sure, it might be pulling nutrients away from the soil that the tomatoes could be grasping, but how many people in the world then spray round up on the weed, or pull it and take it to the burn pile to eradicate it? This is so common it is mind numbing. Rather than pulling that plant, or nuking it, stop and think about this for a moment. That plant spent all of that time pulling nutrients from the air and soil so create roots, stalk, leaves, flowers, seeds, etc. It worked tirelessly to convert raw materials into green matter. It has captured those nutrients into its being and concentrated them right there next to that tomato. What if you cut the stalk, laid it down next to the tomato and let those nutrients drop right down to where the tomato can eat it? The roots become worm food and a channel for water and air to have access to the microbes.
This all seems so simple, but I have encountered so many people who find this to be as foreign to them as chicharon. A story: I was in Boulder, CO chilling with Pfrangenstein and wanted to help out around the house while I was staying. There was this little garden in the backyard with a Buddha statue, so I thought that would be a great place to start the new vibration. It was full of thistle that had just started to flower so I knew it was a perfect time to chop and drop the plants to achieve a high level of nutrient conversion and at the same time add a big shock to the plants in hopes that a succession of something else could be planted and take over the space.
I cut all of the thistle back and laid them right where they grew, the next step would be to plant some seeds around and maybe lay a little compost down if it was available. Well, the homeowner Greg came home and immediately questioned why I did what I did. I explained the thought process and the science behind it, but I could tell he wasn't really listening. At the end of my explanation he said something to the effect that his house wasn't a farm so my idea wasn't going to work out. He didn't want it looking that way. Certainly, Greg, considering you had 3-foot-tall thistle growing in your garden. But I knew what he was getting at. Another slave to the aesthetic, and that IS the largest issue with why folks even have a perception of something called a "weed."
When your aesthetic is based upon a limited understanding of plants, maybe 4 plants that belong in a landscape, of course everything else would be a threat to that aesthetic. So we spray Agent Orange on our lawns where kids play, let it run into clean waterways, all for the aesthetic. I know the frustration is coming out in my words, good. I think if you're reading this and not completely enraged about the unwillingness to examine our systematic destruction of the ecological bubble we need for survival, then I suggest suicide, because your complacency is creating matricide.
Next time you see the goon in the truck spraying Round-Up at guardrails, say something. Next time you see your neighbor treating his lawn with weed-be-gone, do something. Take a tomato over and have him sprinkle some on it and ask if he'd like a bite. If he says no, then perhaps you could move into a conversation as to why the heck it's utterly idiotic to sprinkle that stuff anywhere on this planet. If we continue to lay down to the destruction of our planet, then we won't have one.
Been feeling sick recently? This will only get worse people. Our planet has a cold, it might catch a flu soon, and what happens if it gets pneumonia? The word Weed is simple, but its effects are catastrophic. Every plant is sacred and every plant gives a gift. Chances are you're pulling up food or medicine, so think about that one when you've made up your mind it is an invasive plant in your landscape. The only invasive organism I've ever met walks on two legs and looks around like it's lost in its own landscape...
Below is the Essay from a few years back on the Dandelion. Enjoy.
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