Spring is so hopeful; everything is in bud & in bloom. But wait, there’s more! Aphids have appeared out of nowhere to engulf some of my favorite plants, gophers are on the move, & the weeds… We’ve come home to the abundance of spring for better and worse.
Out in the grove the weeds are a part of our healthy eco-system. In the winter & early spring they serve as rain erosion control, food/habitat for the first wave of beneficial bugs, then mulch for the land when cut. If I let the aphids go untreated, they’ll annihilate my first wave of roses & hibiscus, but soon ladybugs, lacewings & praying mantis appear and set up house as they have plenty of food & no poisons. After that it’s all good.
Then there are gophers, they are pure evil.
This year we had a five year old apple tree topple over, no roots thanks to the subterranean terrorists. Our youngest cat has caught two that we know of, we were so proud…, but if I get very still I think I can hear their 5,000 cousins out there chomping.
Trapping gophers is slow and takes daily dedication. Pumping gas in and blowing them up, while it has Caddy-shack appeal, I’m told it only gives them a headache & it’s not compliant with the Organic Program. I don’t poison them because the hawks, cougar, bob cat, and coyote all hunt the land, and I am leery of secondary poisoning.
Our land came with many many snakes, but all of them were Rattlesnakes as it was the dumping ground for all of the capture and release rattlers in the canyon. We enrolled our dog in snake aversion training, and killed the ones which were in & around the house & construction sites. The grove workers continued to kill them up in the grove.
Fast forward and our gophers are unchecked and doing a lot of damage.
Other snakes are beginning to show up. Lite rainfall means light weeds, less gopher food. I have faith that with work & time balance will come. Just not soon enough to save the apple tree, & entire beds of mixed perennials.
It has been my experience that there is a lot of valuable & indispensable content of self; entombed, hiding, or skulking in the subterranean shadows my unconscious.
Left unchecked and in the dark, it is common to feel victimized by life. Not recognizing it’s a disassociated aspect of self, who is in fact conducting the train of events. What aspect of self undermines our relationships, finances, and careers?
Often, pop psychology & religion
will recommend we locate & repress or eradicate
undesirable bits of self.
The question to ask oneself
of all aspects of self is…
What is its function?
Rattlesnakes do help keep rodent populations under control & gophers aerate soil…
Our land has room for both
From a healthy sustainable standpoint,
What does that look like?
And for self…
Same question.
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