i have always been a bit of a pacifist.
Long time vegetarian (from 16-46) who at one stage could not harvest her own growings for fear of the trauma of hurting the plants.
It is spring here and i have been raising some seeds for my garden cleome, hollyhocks, sunflowers, cosmos. Flowers that make my heart sing and link me back to another time.
To participate in the miracle of life that close at hand - to see something green and alive sprout bravely up from the darkness with the potion of light and water and its own predestined life force- is humbling
It makes me think of Dr Estes saying "It is a miracle we make it here at all"
And it is in acknowledging this miracle that i get hard-hearted.
I am now on alert for snails and slugs. Pay my girls 10 cents per plant munching arthropod. I squash them under my foot (after saying a little prayer of blessing sure but make no mistake they are not alive after i find them)
Yes, i would rather the starlings and thrushes would come and eat them as the cycle of life dictates, but it seems my strawberries are all the fair those little head- twisting beauties are after. The crushed eggshells seem like they are a purpose build snail amusement/obstacle course only "Hey Larry, come over to the cleomes tonight - wicked new course laid out" they say to each other.
Yes i would rather not be crushing life under my feet.
Snails are little slimey miracles, with their stalk eyes swiveling and their soft walk on razorblades feet.
But i have to choose.
The snails or the plants.
And life is like that too. I see the right people in my community have to demand more and more of my time and money. I don't deny that they are worthy and important to them.
But just like snails who have a right to life and nourishment they eat up the new tender things that are growing in me.
And if i don't make boundaries or stamp them out then my precious new life will be eaten clean away.
So i take the snails in my life and in my garden and i dispatch them as painlessly as i can. Just as i am working to weed out the people and obligations in my life that don't serve my bigger purpose.
Because i want my garden to flourish. Metaphorically and literally.
What is it that you want to flourish.
And what are your snails?
Long time vegetarian (from 16-46) who at one stage could not harvest her own growings for fear of the trauma of hurting the plants.
It is spring here and i have been raising some seeds for my garden cleome, hollyhocks, sunflowers, cosmos. Flowers that make my heart sing and link me back to another time.
To participate in the miracle of life that close at hand - to see something green and alive sprout bravely up from the darkness with the potion of light and water and its own predestined life force- is humbling
It makes me think of Dr Estes saying "It is a miracle we make it here at all"
And it is in acknowledging this miracle that i get hard-hearted.
I am now on alert for snails and slugs. Pay my girls 10 cents per plant munching arthropod. I squash them under my foot (after saying a little prayer of blessing sure but make no mistake they are not alive after i find them)
Yes, i would rather the starlings and thrushes would come and eat them as the cycle of life dictates, but it seems my strawberries are all the fair those little head- twisting beauties are after. The crushed eggshells seem like they are a purpose build snail amusement/obstacle course only "Hey Larry, come over to the cleomes tonight - wicked new course laid out" they say to each other.
Yes i would rather not be crushing life under my feet.
Snails are little slimey miracles, with their stalk eyes swiveling and their soft walk on razorblades feet.
But i have to choose.
The snails or the plants.
And life is like that too. I see the right people in my community have to demand more and more of my time and money. I don't deny that they are worthy and important to them.
But just like snails who have a right to life and nourishment they eat up the new tender things that are growing in me.
And if i don't make boundaries or stamp them out then my precious new life will be eaten clean away.
So i take the snails in my life and in my garden and i dispatch them as painlessly as i can. Just as i am working to weed out the people and obligations in my life that don't serve my bigger purpose.
Because i want my garden to flourish. Metaphorically and literally.
What is it that you want to flourish.
And what are your snails?
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