What’s in a Weed? Pesticides and Rethinking Methods of Gardening

It’s nearly spring, and quite soon I will have many little weeds flourishing in my garden.

Some of my weeds will have cheery, fuzzy yellow faces. They will grow vigorously on my lawn if I let them. Their flowers are sweet and good for wine and fritters, their leaves are edible in salads, and their roots have healing properties. I’m talking about the dandelion, the beloved and despised weed that grows in our gardens.

What is a weed, and why do we dislike them so much? In essence, a weed is an unwanted plant. A rose can be a weed if you are attempting to grow corn. We tend to be rather brutal towards weeds. They assault our sensibilities, challenge our dominion over our gardens, and call for intense scrutiny followed up with a chemical assault. They aren’t necessarily dangerous, and they are often useful. Weeds are simply not useful in the way that we want them to be. They’re not the right plant, meaning the one that we planted.

Some weeds are plants that we plant, but they love it so much that they will eagerly invite themselves to stay everywhere in the garden. Mint, borage, and comfrey are a few of these. They’re ultimately useful, but boy, do they spread. Luckily, they can also ingratiate me into their good graces with their usefulness in teas, in salads, and in healing. I do watch where I place plants like these, because sometimes they outgrow their welcome. However, I like the permaculture concept of how to deal with overly useful plants: eat them, use them, use more of them until they are under control.

I’m not saying that there is no such thing as a weed. I am especially concerned about weeds when they move into areas that are not under intensive human control. Species like purple loosestrife bother me because they dominate wetlands. Many invasive species are notoriously hard to remove because they reproduce through vegetative reproduction. Often, the only option seems to be the use of pesticides. But the use of pesticides in our wetlands and on our crops scares me more than weeds do, because I know that pesticides wreak damage that is far beyond what I can see.

Plants are easy to see. They remind us easily about what we do and do not want in our gardens. On the other hand, pesticides are not so easy to see. At least their effects are not all that visible. They come in handy packages, are applied and then move into the soil, air, and water. They kill off soil life, embed themselves in the groundwater, and move into the food chains of animals, both wildlife and farm animals.

What’s in a weed? Our desire to control, particularly through chemical means.

Next week I’ll explore gardening and farming methods that see weeds a little differently.

What is a weed to you?

Protect Farmland, Protect Sustainable Food

There’s no wiggle room here: farmers need farmland. I know, that’s not strictly true. Creative urban and vertical gardeners have proven that you don’t really need that much land to grow fresh vegetables. Nevertheless by and large the fact remains that farmers need access to land. This is a global issue. It is happening in the US just as it is happening in Mali or Nicaragua. And, not surprisingly, the people that often get squeezed off the land to make way for big development projects are small, traditional farmers. The loss of traditional and productive farmland is a multifaceted issue and can have disastrous affects on the environment as well as on communities and entire countries.

In many parts of the world, traditional small farmers use sustainable agricultural practices. They work with the land, and have developed farming techniques that are tailored to their specific environment. They don’t use heavy-duty pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. Farmers are stewards of the land, a role that is often lost on land developers and big agriculture. Well-managed farmland helps preserve watersheds, control flooding, and protects groundwater, in addition to providing space for wildlife. Farmers work within the confines of preexisting natural systems and rows of plants are much better for the health for the health of the land than rows of houses or pavement.

The loss of farmland is also very disruptive to community health and structure. Not only does it mean the loss of local food sources, but it also means a loss of livelihood. In many places, farming is a way of life, rooted deeply in place and culture. The inability to maintain a traditional way of life is devastating for many communities. In the U.S., small farms play an important role in communities, though perhaps not as entirely vital as they do in more traditional farming areas around the world. Nevertheless, productive farmland means local jobs and businesses, and may also provide a place for recreation and educational activities.

The preservation of farmland for small farmers ought to be a priority for our local and national governments, as small sustainable farms are an important piece of food security, an increasingly worrisome issue. Many non-profit organizations recognize the importance of preserving land for farming and are devoted to protecting traditional, productive farmland all over the world. Farmland trusts or other types of land trusts often help new or expanding farmers to secure land as long as they comply with sustainable stewardship practices. Organizations with political voice and influence, like the international powerhouse La Via Campesina spread awareness about land loss and work towards change on the policy level. We need to reclaim land for farming, and specifically for farming that is healthy and sustainable for our land and our communities.

Consuming Raw Milk: Illegal and Toxic, or Healthy and Sustainable Food?

They’re sitting in the corner, whispering about milk. That’s dangerous stuff, milk. It’s raw, it’s off-white, it’s from cows. Is raw milk dangerous, or is it one of the most healthy and sustainable foods to consume?

I must confess to drinking raw milk from time to time. I don’t buy any myself, but friends buy it. Raw milk tastes good, and I haven’t had any health problems. Recently, there was a rally in my city to support a local raw milk dairy that many of my friends frequent. Officially, it is a cow share and not a dairy, since raw milk is not legal where I live. Unofficially, the business provides a steady supply of milk and yogurt to many people who believe in the worth of raw milk, ferried through a network that is underground yet visible if you know where to look and who to ask.

What’s the concern about raw milk? Well, since raw milk has not been pasteurized there are worries that it may contain e. coli bacteria that cause disease. Governments post warnings about the dangers of raw milk. Our local petting farm milks their dairy cows by hand and must toss out the milk that those cows produce. Food-borne illnesses can be nasty things, damaging your liver and your gut and leading to all sorts of public health problems. Health departments prefer to avoid these diseases and have set standards in place to make food safer. However, some people feel that these standards interfere with public choice, in this case the choice to choose a superior and healthy food product.

Those who advocate drinking raw milk say that pasteurization kills off the living milk. Milk has antibodies in it, albeit antibodies for baby cows. Raw milk advocates say that the milk boosts their immune systems. The Weston A. Price Foundation is one of the biggest raw milk advocates, saying that drinking raw milk means that the nutrients in the milk are more available to the human body and can truly build and rebuild bones and teeth, bone structures that may be in a state of disrepair from the standard American diet. Raw milk advocates are willing to bet that healthy cows from a clean farm will produce milk whose health benefits outweigh the possible risks.

Is raw milk a public health hazard, or is it an immensely beneficial substance that we are ignoring out of fear? I have no firm answers. Like all decisions that go against the grain, it’s a matter of weighing the risks in your own mind. I suspect that it could be both, depending on the circumstances. While I happily drink raw milk upon occasion, thoughts about making it a regular part of my diet are swayed by concerns about safety. Mostly, though, the dilemmas in my mind are moved aside by the fact that I am too lazy to head to a milk drop-off point every week to pick up my share. And so it goes: we drink water and eat raw cheese instead, legal and lazy as can be.