nutritious, invasive and annoying!

I spent a good part of two months this southern hemisphere spring pulling weeds from organic gardens. In those hours, I had a chance to reflect on weeds, the way people interact with them and how we can learn from them. Here are some of those reflections.

1/ Weeds - and by extension, pulling them out - only matter if there are good things growing. Who cares if a random field is covered with them? Farmers and gardeners care a lot if there is ragweed crowding out carrots, though.

This makes me wonder: What good is growing in my life? Are there fruitful things that I need to protect against the "weeds" that will overtake them?

2/ Sometimes good plants get rooted in the wrong places, making them weeds. It's nice to have self-seeding vegetables, but if they're in a footpath, they have to go!

This makes me consider: Do I have positive character traits that are growing without a purpose? How can I connect into an outlet for the "plants" that are growing in my life?

3/ Sometimes people eat weeds, which makes them productive plants. A common example is dandelion leaves, which have become a mainstay of spring mix salad. But there are also a host of "weeds" that are actually highly nutritious and tasty. So in that case, we want them!

This makes me think: What in my life do I need a different perspective on and a different use for? How can I turn dandelions into salad?

Some food for thought!