Weeds = Unwanted

May 20, 2020 – Bull thistle. Prickly, annoying, pervasive. I’ve pulled up buckets and buckets of this stuff. Seeking out the newest ones has become a daily habit. They thrive in disturbed ground, and we are disturbing a lot of ground as we dig up and move dirt from here to there to develop Camp Many Moons. They have a two-year life cycle, and my camp is two years old, so I’m hoping to get on top of this soon. It got me thinking though. What defines a weed? Any plant that isn’t wanted! Why don’t I want these? After all, parts of them are edible. I suppose if I was truly an off-the-grid survivalist, I would harvest them and not burn them. So Camp Many Moons isn’t truly rustic, as I like to call it. In fact, it’s getting less rustic by the month, what with a well and soon a septic system. And I’m not as rugged as I sometimes think. I want a “pretty” landscape. But these “weeds” bring reflection. If “weed” means “unwanted,” do my strongly-partisan friends think of me as a “weed-person” because I try to hew to the middle and refuse to embrace extremes? This is how my mind works. This is why I dig weeds, and chop wood, and carry water. Sometimes it’s good to reflect. And sometimes it’s good to get your hands busy.