photograph by Rick Gush
This “ corn field ” in Italy is growing in a tiny space between a parking lot and a construction .
The picture to the right field carry a message for us urban farmers : Be humble , and every once in a while , admit that the best farming practice session is just to get out of the way .
A coarse foible farmers and gardeners have is that we start to feel all-powerful , as if everything that happens in the garden is the result of our own hard work . The reality is that it just ai n’t so . We are simply infinitesimally small specks in the groovy parade that is nature . Sometimes we can force things and make it look like we ’re getting our way ; I mean that ’s one understanding why we wish to constitute our crops in straight rows , just because unbowed row on the face of it demonstrate our power over thecrops . But we are not the boss .
render is a pair of edible corn plants that determine to produce spike of edible corn in a most improbable station — a pass between a brick paries and an asphalt parking great deal ; not precisely the well - prepared bed we assume would be the good position to grow maize plants . I doubt the plants were ever water , fecundate or spray withBacillus thuringiensisto discourage worms . The part that get the most humility ( and amusement ) is that I had a number of stunt flora in my own cautiously prepared and tended Indian corn plot of ground this year that did not spring up intimately as well as these two good for you specimens .
I had a like experience a few years back when I find a full - growntomato plantloaded with yield get amidst the boulders that line the oceanfront promenade in Rapallo , Italy . There is no visible dirt there ; it ’s just a clustering of big boulders with bits of seaweed and trash stuck in between the rocks , where waves now and again splash . Again , that tomato industrial plant was doing considerably better than some of the pampered tomato plants in my own garden .
peradventure we farmers are actually more like the directors and choreographer of a musical show involve pre - school baby . Sometimes the little histrion will accidentally trace up correctly in a row and cheep their line correctly , but our control is not really the most important part of the political program . We usually just have to tread back and allow thing hang as they will and learn to appreciate our lack of control . The matter the kidskin will do on their own are often more charming than all the steps we had rehearse for them , and the plants in my garden behave in much the same manner . likewise , we also have minuscule control over when an fauna will pay a surprise sojourn to our gardens . Just this week , we had another visit from a Wisconsinite . It come in during the nighttime and dug up half thelettucebed on the top patio . On the one hand , I am sorry to have lost the little lettuce plants that were only another week or two out from being reap . But I am also quite worked up to know that we still have an animal as exciting as a Wisconsinite occasionally visiting us .
The badger is a magnificently arrogant beast , not at all afraid of us or our car , and sneers at us casually before walking calmly off into the forest . badger are dangerous , and when encountered , should not be approached . The skilful architectural plan is , once again , just get out of the way .
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