I weed

Weeding is to me more about making not taking , making space for the balancing plants. The balancing plants ebb and flow, you will see them come and go, some years -spraying seeds, sprouting everywhere; next year  - just in growth. The ones that live in harmony, like violets, there are so many violets at Red Oak woods, in fact the original name on the deed is “Violet Hill”. Self Heal is one, and then the oaks; and animals, they often find resources in these plants. Making space for these means removing the too strong plants, the ones that take over and become a monochrome patch or thicket that grows in a harming way. I will always be learning about the precarious balance and precious value of diversity and how to protect it. 

Those plants I call the too strong plants, maybe they just are hyper adapted, in a subjective perspecitve, or maybe just mal adjusted, and overcompensating - they do expend a lot of energy in a short amount of time. That is one weakness that can be exploited to drain them. This year we did a lot of finding and topping, topping meaning removing off new seeds and weakening the plant by asking the roots to make more seeds. Many of these too strong plants are spreading by roots and sprouting from those mats rather than from fallen seeds, so finding ways to weakening that root system by pushing the plant to expend its energy stores. These plants have hubris, chop them and they do not humbly give up and go home to recuperate, (notice i did not say recharge as i consciously avoid the language of computer and machine processes). Instead, they keep forcing out more energy, and thereby deplete themselves. I am not promising to not use chemicals. These friends we have begun the path of saying good bye ‘ Canadian Thistle, Canadian Goldenrod, Reed Canary Grass, and ye old Buckthorn; add a few more trees such as Black Locust, Siberian Elm, Amur Maple. I am now in winter working on the map, so I can check off the locating part. Under foot this land is so rich in original undisrupted diversity, so I am watchful of chemicals, watchful of root damage (goats can nibble too much) and disruption of the soil surface. I am pursuing the use of fire to kill small buckthorn. Fire is the friend of nature, and purifies. 

Naming, that is what i meant to write about. Did you notice i have not said “non-native” or “invasive”? Those being so politicized words, perhaps “domineering” will do, move to psychology. The word I am thinking of also is “displacing”, its descriptive, it’s less judgmental. True, Buckthorn takes up more space and poisons the land via its roots, does not play well with others, not found hanging out in lovely bouquets, has no nutritional value. The word “imported” works for me, it sounds like a product that was brought in from a different place, again, descriptive. It is good to know where a plant is from, and know its original ecosystem, this will reveal why its acting so “crazy” here. Many plants, such as yarrow, have naturalized to virtually the entire planet, and with so much to give in their gentle way! Others will try to find a way. I do not know much more than this small segment of land I walked with my grandma looking for “bloodroot” and “Dutchman’s britches”. And I know now, that one of those is from here and one is not, yet both can thrive. We need clear understory for these unassuming spring partners that offer medicine, and so round to buckthorn again, the one that closes the canopy. 

There are people who make good points about naming, power and ownership, and I appreciate learning the many names. I believe that Carl Linnaeus, who lived his life in naming, finding and categorizing plants and animals had good intentions. His success is in the overarching categories and in creating a kind of Esperanto for plant names, a universal language that he meant to help make plain the medicinal uses. In his time people relied solely on plants for medicine. Indigenous plant uses on our continent, were as many and varied as there are tribes. A plant that lives in many places might serve quite different purposes in each place, and be prepared in unique fashions dependent on tools, and other cultural ways. In this way native plants used by native peoples, are richly nuanced - in use, need, or season. But when the Eclectic Physicians came and “discovered” plant uses, and took what they learned from Indigenous people, understanding and experience and knowledge, they also did something those people never did. They simplified the perfect chaos that existed, they distilled an organic living use that ebbed and flowed, into a set and specific indication or use. In doing this they paved the way for pharmaceuticals, a reverence for tiny doses of potent synthetic chemicals that are named, owned and sold, each preparation identical to the former and the latter. And this market concept of curing an affliction, that start and stop process, rather than holistic health that is a maintenance where plants offer a wide array of chemistry, to a whole person, has taken on a Godzilla like life of its own, beyond any concept of health. For one example, the obsession with Delta 8. 

My power is reverence, my power is my hands, in creating space for the harmonious chaos of the whole plants, in their own magnificent patches of soil, dirt, earth, whatever you wish to call it. 

Naming - I name trees AirMakers. I know scientists tell that at night they use air just like we do and inhale oxygen like we do, but during they day they make up for it in spades via photosynthesis. And so, thanking air makers is my new job. I would like us to come together to support the oaks, the nanny berries, the grey dogwood, the cherry, the plums, the short stories, the understories, the tall tales.  This we do by removing the too strong plants, the buckthorn.  Next time i will send the invite for the buckthorn fire.