There is a place where Vernon's farm fields end and the road does the same on the other side. This place is filled with all sorts of curiosities from castoffs, to invaders, to homesteaders, to the announcers that the school year is but a short distance away. It won't be long now before those who are responsible for its keep will restore it to a mundane uniformity. And so we had better hurry up and get there in order to experience all of its wonders before it is gone!
"My heart found its home long ago in the beauty, mystery, order and disorder of the flowering earth"
-Lady Bird Johnson
I leashed Ginny and Luna with the thought that I would for just this once, attempt to put aside my prejudices and simply observe what was to be found. My readers well know the difficulty this poses for me as I surely anticipated finding invasive plants. In fact I did note among others, a collection of: Burning Bush, Multiflora Rose, Porcelain Berry and Virginia Creeper. I will try to hold my peace.
Just for today, I will look for the farmer's crops intermingling with the wild grasses and flowers, allowing myself to be filled with the joy of our working landscape.
"Where flowers bloom so does hope"
-Lady Bird Johnson
"Farming isn't a battle against nature, but a partnership with it. It is respecting the basics of nature in action and ensuring that they continue."
-Jeff Koehler
"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."
-Rachel Carson
"The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn't still be a farmer"
-Will Rogers
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."
-John Muir
It was right about here that Bob rode up on his bike and stopped for a chat. Bob had entered the gate on the old state trail that begins where Lily Pond road ends. This trailhead is on the left just across the brook at the northwest shore of Lily Pond. He said that the trail is about a mile and ends up at Scott Road. I imagined that Bob must have thought it strange to catch me knee deep in the culvert mid morning taking pictures of weeds. Instead, as it turned out, he wanted to share with me a picture of a particularly interesting flower that he had photographed on the trail. I don't know how Bob does it, speeding by and still getting the pictures. I had two Monarch Butterflies, numerous white ones, grasshoppers and the like land right in front of me and I still missed the shot.
I grew up being told by various relatives, that Goldenrod was a terrible allergen. I suspect that Uncle Leonard believed that all 124 species and 61 subspecies of Goldenrod were responsible for his discomfort. It wasn't that many years ago that an allergist informed me that this time of year the real culprits are Ragweed and Timothy grass. How could I resist including Ragweed in with my finds? Ahh but I promised to not discriminate.
"Farming isn't something that can be taught. Each plant tells its own story that has to be read repeatedly"
"A weed is but an unloved flower."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
"The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946. that is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food? Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests, It was near kitchens, near tables, near bedsides. It was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard."
A resident recently asked me what a good replacement for the invasive Burning Bush would be. I think that I confused her when I offered
Staghorn Sumac. In terms of wildlife, invasive plants are akin to fast food restaurants. They are popping up everywhere and serving up low nutrient content. Native plants on the other hand, improve habitat and offer a stunning display of flowers and fruit.
If not for our yearly town mowing, the above oak saplings would soon take over this area. If not for animals like skunks, beetle's and their larvae would cause widespread damage to plants.
Men and nature must work hand in hand. The throwing out of balance of the resources of nature throws out of balance also the lives of men.
-Theodore Roosevelt
Before I realized what was happening, the road escaped from the fields. The area that had separated Agriculture from the road had become the area that separates the road from homes.
"You have to get up and plant the seed and see if it grows, but you can't just wait around, you have to water it and take care of it."
Bootsy Collins
-Norma Manning
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