My mother got seeds for the garden.
It's so weird how our untended garden (it's never fully tended) changes. We used to have lots of grass (and uprooting grass is no joke!), then we had lots of pokeberries, then we've had lots of these tall plants that I don't know what they are, they come up easy but they just KEEP ON SPREADING. This year we've got a lot of chickweed which is keeping those awful tall plants down.
On the side of the house we had a small patch of ferns, then they took over that whole area, now there are seemingly no ferns.
But I digress. My mother asked my input, and then wholly ignored what I said. (She's going to get a few that I asked for this week, though.) I was walking about, bemoaning my lack of purslane seeds, when I happened to glance down at the largely untended patch of land in front of St. Paul's church, and you're sure to guess what I saw there! Purslane! Just growing!
Now, some of you don't know this because you've always had this sort of knowledge (![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
marveen, if/when society collapses, I'm still moving in with you, right?), and some don't know this because you don't have this sort of knowledge at all, but there is this remarkable feeling of power that comes from being able to walk out in the world, see a plant growing wild, and go "I know what that is!" Moreso if you can then say "I know how to cook it!" or "I know what sort of medicinal properties that one has!"
It's amazing. It's knowing things that are useful, and that you know (I know) other people around you don't know. (And even if they did, what does it matter? YOU know it, and you can eat purslane anyway.)
Now, I have a question. On the OTHER side of St. Paul's Avenue there's a bit of land that's wholly trees and pokeberries and undergrowth. If anybody owns it they no doubt wish they didn't, because that land is just about straight up-and-down in parts. And you know, I like it, but sometimes I wish I could identify and remove the non-native plants and put some nice, colorful native flowers in their place. Maybe something to encourage butterflies and hummingbirds and the like. I probably never will, because just-about-sheer-drops aren't quite my thing, especially when they drop you right into a main thoroughfare (not so busy that kids can't skateboard down it after school, but I'd be bound to fall right as the bus passes by, of course. Still, if I were to do this, how would I go about it?
On the side of the house we had a small patch of ferns, then they took over that whole area, now there are seemingly no ferns.
But I digress. My mother asked my input, and then wholly ignored what I said. (She's going to get a few that I asked for this week, though.) I was walking about, bemoaning my lack of purslane seeds, when I happened to glance down at the largely untended patch of land in front of St. Paul's church, and you're sure to guess what I saw there! Purslane! Just growing!
Now, some of you don't know this because you've always had this sort of knowledge (
marveen, if/when society collapses, I'm still moving in with you, right?), and some don't know this because you don't have this sort of knowledge at all, but there is this remarkable feeling of power that comes from being able to walk out in the world, see a plant growing wild, and go "I know what that is!" Moreso if you can then say "I know how to cook it!" or "I know what sort of medicinal properties that one has!"It's amazing. It's knowing things that are useful, and that you know (I know) other people around you don't know. (And even if they did, what does it matter? YOU know it, and you can eat purslane anyway.)
Now, I have a question. On the OTHER side of St. Paul's Avenue there's a bit of land that's wholly trees and pokeberries and undergrowth. If anybody owns it they no doubt wish they didn't, because that land is just about straight up-and-down in parts. And you know, I like it, but sometimes I wish I could identify and remove the non-native plants and put some nice, colorful native flowers in their place. Maybe something to encourage butterflies and hummingbirds and the like. I probably never will, because just-about-sheer-drops aren't quite my thing, especially when they drop you right into a main thoroughfare (not so busy that kids can't skateboard down it after school, but I'd be bound to fall right as the bus passes by, of course. Still, if I were to do this, how would I go about it?
no subject
Ours hasn't taken off yet, I hope we get a nice crop this year.
We have wild violets too that are yummy.
no subject
no subject