Weeds

This week I finally felt ready to weed. It's been a process of education, reflection and eventually motivation to decide how much of this orchard to maintain. I don't know if I've figured the answer out yet - but I've definitely realised this week that I enjoy working out in the farm. I like the solitude, the hard work, the satisfaction of seeing a row well-weeded, and the calm companionship of Kibomi, our 4 month old german shepherd puppy, nearby.

It's interesting how one's mind can wander while weeding - and the metaphor for spiritual growth comes to mind. Some insights that occurred to me out amongst the dandelions and cow parsnips.. There are two approaches to weeding that I tried today:

The first is to pull the tall grasses that sway over the strawberry plants, sometimes it feels like I'm grasping at straws - but they're easy to see, if a little fine to get a hold on. The second is to get closer to the ground, and differentiate between the actual strawberry leaves, and then grab everything else.. Perhaps the habits that are harder to root out are those which I need to learn to identify, probably exist at a subconscious level and may seem at first innocuous. And those easy to spot ones - we all know them - but there are so many, and it takes a fair amount of consistent practice to get them all out. And of course, to know what a weed is, one first has to know what isn't. As we slowly learn to identify the divine qualities inherent in our souls by manifesting them in action and reflecting on them in thought, perhaps we get better at knowing what's not of our true selves.

As David well knows, I am definitely one to take a metaphor too far, and extend it into an unnecessary blog post. So I'll stop here, and return to filling our wheelbarrow with all sorts of weedish plants.