Weeds and other pesky surprises

Most folks look upon weeds as a 'bad' thing. Gotta get 'em out of the garden, yard, etc. Even if it means using toxic chemicals. HUH? Do you realize that lots of what we consider 'weeds' are not only useful, many have medicinal properties that have been used for eons. So how come we're always tryin' to kill them? 

Maybe it's because we consider them unsightly. Or maybe we just don't know their value. Or..maybe we have a penchant toward 'pristine' lawns? I don't know about you, but in my world weeds are a given. When you live in rural America, there are gonna be weeds. No getting around it. So I thought it might be fun to find out what weeds can be of use to me and how to get the most benefit. Here are a few things I found:

Dandelions: Probably one of the most common in most every yard. My mom used to pick them and put them in salads or mix them in with scrambled eggs (one of my Dad's favorites). Yep. Dandelions are edible (both the leaves AND the flowers!) and even DELICIOUS if you pick them when they're small. They're also great companion plants to various grains and tomatoes. They attract honeybees (always a good thing!) and are used as a diuretic in herbal medicine. Oh...and Dandelion tea is terrific for congestion. No kidding.

Clover: It's actually a member of the legume family. Great companion plant to a host of veggies like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, cucumber, squash, melons and gourds. Also fertilizes the soil, and provides a humid micro-climate that benefits lots of plants by stabilizing their moisture. Who knew?

There are lots of others including Bashful Mimosa, Cocklebur, Crow Garlic, Goldenrod, Horse Nettle, Milkweed, Nasturtium, Nettle, Queen Anne's Lace (yep. it's a weed!), and Wild Mustard. I'm sure there are tons more..but you get the idea. WEEDS ARE NOT 'BAD' THINGS!

There's a reason why I'm writing about weeds today, and it isn't just to give you a gardening lesson. It's got everything to do with something I read a few days ago; and it's had me thinking ever since (uh-oh). About how some people are like weeds. You know the ones: they show up uninvited, mess up the whole pretty picture, suck the life outta your garden and no matter how many times you pull 'em out, they just keep showing up again. So what do you do about it? What can you do, short of drowning them in poison, and still keep your garden healthy?

Maybe, like the weeds just mentioned, you can find their hidden value. Maybe, instead of fighting with 'em, you can find a way to integrate them into your garden as useful remedies. Maybe, just maybe, once you stop resisting their annoying presence you will see just how beneficial they are. Like thorns on a rose. There for a reason. There for you to grow. There for you to see what you might otherwise miss about yourself or your own annoying habits. Things you want to cultivate. More patience. More compassion. More YOU. Often times it is our immutable belief(s) that keep us from growing our best garden. Those 'weeds' can push us past our rigid perspectives into a more flexible sway. Know what I mean?

Well, maybe it's a stretch. Or maybe there's something here that you hadn't thought about before. Hope so. What I know right now is that there is value in most everything. Even the weeds in our lives. I'm gonna start picking more and using them to nourish myself. Enough with the fighting already. Push comes to shove, I'll just let those weeds fade on their own. It's bound to happen...eventually. 

Now...for some Dandelion Soup.

There's More Than One Way to Kill a Weed

Yes. I know. That's not how the saying goes. But just the thought of skinning a cat makes my stomach turn. So I changed it. There.

The point is, there IS more than one way to kill a weed. That is, if you feel the need to kill them at all. Some weeds are useful, you know. Example: a dandelion is said to be a weed, yet they are excellent cleansers. Dandelions have been used by Native Americans for eons. The Iroquois Indians ate boiled dandelion leaves along with fatty meats to avoid indigestion. When the Ojibwa had heartburn, they drank dandelion root tea. The Kiowa women mixed dandelion blossoms with pennyroyal as a cure for cramps and PMS. The Mohegan drank dandelion leaf tea daily as a tonic to keep their energy levels high and to stay free of stomach aches and constipation. Other Indian tribes collected the young leaves in the spring and ate them with other leafy vegetables. Dandelion tea can be used as an herbal detox to help cleanse your liver and kidneys. And to relieve water retention. I'm sure there are hundreds of other beneficial uses for the 'weed', but you get my drift.

Not all weeds are 'bad'.

Same goes with those beliefs we call 'negative'. Or 'limiting'. Or 'harmful'. Are you sure? Are you sure they're not there for a good reason?

I pose this today because of some very interesting conversations I've had lately. Seems that this whole idea of 'bad' and 'good' may just be skewed. Maybe instead of seeing things as 'good' or 'bad', we might like to look at them without judgment at all. Like...they just 'are'.

Here's what I mean:

What if we have this belief that when we 'die' we will either go to heaven or hell. {Bear with me here. Crazy as it may sound to some, there are millions of people who believe in such things. I may not be one of them, but that's beside the point.} There is no actual proof such places exist. There is also no proof that they don't exist. Either way, it doesn't seem to matter much to those who believe in this philosophy. Does it serve them in some way? Does their belief in heaven and hell make them better people? Do they use this belief to monitor their actions and/or keep themselves aligned with their higher good?

Beliefs are merely thoughts we think...over and over and over again. That is how they become beliefs. With enough practice we can adopt any belief. It's a matter of consistent thought and a resonance in the heart. If it 'touches' us, it stays. If it doesn't, we ditch it. Right?

So then, we make the decision to keep rethinking a thought, which then turns into a belief, which then serves us in some way or another. Is this good or bad? Guess that depends on how it (the belief) either enhances or diminishes our life. Make sense so far?

What if we decide to have a look at our beliefs. Really take inventory of the things we believe in. Like make a list and then go over that list carefully. We look at the list and ask, "where did this come from? Is it mine or someone else's? Did I pick this up from my parents or some teacher or a long-forgotten experience? Where did it come from and does it apply to me NOW?" Then, one by one, you can either keep it or ditch it. There may be some beliefs that did happen to serve you at some point, but now they're passe and no longer needed. You get to choose...and rethink those beliefs.

This is just one way to weed your garden. Taking the time to put your hands in the dirt and really examine what you want to keep and what you want to dig out and toss. You can choose to keep the dandelions or not. You can choose to keep half and dig out the rest. Or you can wait until your garden is so overgrown that you can't tell what's what. In my experience, tending to one's garden on a regular basis is much easier than waiting til it's a mass of tangled ick.

And then there are the flowers...

{You'll have to wait on that part. One thing at a time, okay?}