Some Weeds you have to Pull

Summer is in full swing. We can’t work in the garden for more than a few hours in the morning. The thermometer says it’s in the mid-nineties Fahrenheit, but the Real Feel is more like 105 (40 Celsius). The abundance of sun and rain combine to make the grass and weeds grow fast. For parts of the property, we can get the mower, tractor, or weed eater out, and feel thankful at the ease of these labor-saving devices. But some weeds, you just have to pull.

We have to slow down, make movements measured in square-inches, drive hand-tools into the ground to break up root systems, grab grass stalks with our hands, and work the weeds free of the soil.

It’s tempting to view the act of weeding, or any labor really, as a curse, as toil. But there is dedication and commitment to weeding before we see the end result. We must be faithful to weed. We have to be able to see what is not there, to believe in what we cannot see.

But when it’s done, we can look to the places we have cleared, to the empty spaces that let garden plants breathe and feet walk unimpeded, and we can know, we can see the evidence; there is a reconciliation that is possible between humans and the earth.

It may only come in fleeting glimpses, but we know it is there.