The Zen of Weeding

I like weeding. I enjoy the time spent.  Am i crazy? Or even a little masochistic? I shove the weeding tool down by the roots, give a little prying action, then grab the weed and pull. It’s a part of the gardening experience.

Weeds are nature’s design to leave no bare spaces. Nature fills in. Voids are taboo. And so the weeds have entered into the spaces. Enter the weeds.

like empty canvas

nature fills the vacant space

so, enter the weeds

Weeding takes focus. All of my attention. It is a sort of meditation. Meditation is about being here, right now. Not thinking of either past or future. I pluck the weed and make sure the roots come out with it.

A healthy patch of weeds

i have great respect

for all nature's weedy gifts

yet, the weeds must go

Weeds are a good sign. They mean we did our job with manuring and getting the compost around. This year they are looking fat and healthy. To the compost pile they go, completing a cycle of growth to waste and waste to growth.

as veggies are picked

spaces in garden return

so enter the weeds

Herman Hesse wrote Siddhartha, a book about spiritual seeking and enlightenment. Sidhartha had his most enlightened time as a ferryman on the river. He had left the spiritual orders and religious teachers to spend his days listening to the river and ferrying people. He had stopped seeking answers. He felt no need to seek, just to be.

the garden thrives

with great bounty to sustain

without weeds for now

Weeding Is just weeding. There is no past and no future. There is the garden, the weeds and me. Pulling weeds by hand is not a chore and not something to avoid. It is my meditation. I don't need to think about anything. Just pluck ‘em out. The zen of weeding. -G.H.