Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Dira necessitas

(~Grim necessity)
I have been ruined by my parents, who fought for the rights of unborn babies, animals, and rainforests. Now I am dreading a task that is quickly approaching: thinning the seedlings. Is it me, or is that just like selective abortion? Here these little guys burst through the ground all enthusiastic to grow and bloom and be oohed and ahhed at, and I'm about to say, "No, there's not enough nutrients or space for you. Let's give the others a better chance. You'll have to go." And then they are ripped from the womb of Mother Earth. Forever denied the chance to fulfill the measure of their creation. They will shrivel up in a pitiful pile off to the side of their botanical siblings. This is just awful.

Even worse, I know it's coming, but they don't. They have to grow just a bit bigger before I end their little lives. Every day I trick them into thinking that they've germinated in just the right spot, as I shower them with fresh water and positive affirmation. Little do they know. I am actually feeling guilt over this. How do I possibly choose? Just yank out the weak looking ones? Weren't some of the greatest minds of all time weak as children, of frail and delicate composition? How can I judge these little wildflowers in their infancy? Will I be held accountable for this later on, this casual selection of life, albeit plant life? Oh, my. What has become of me?

4 comments:

Luisa Perkins said...

I have the exact same feeling when I have to thin. I hate it!

Annette Lyon said...

The only way I can get through this process is biting my lip and thinking of what's on the other end--if I don't do this, I can't have crisp peas or luscious tomatoes or fresh corn. Glad I'm not the only one that has thought this, though!

Unknown said...

Me too. Same thing. I even apologize to a wasp as I swat it.

This year, one of the tomato plants I brought home to plant had a low sucker (sounds almost human) that the garden center said I should pull off and throw away. So I pulled it off, but could not briing myself to throw it away. It's now growing nicely and nearly as tall as it's mother.

YogaNana said...

Um, I've even tried planting one carrot seed here, one carrot seed there ... that doesn't work very well, unfortunately. So I plant and thin. Ultimately even the chosen are going to be ripped from the earth and eaten, of course, but it's nice to think they had a chance to 'experience' Full Carrothood first, sprinkled by rain, warmed by sun, feeling little breezes in their green hair.

We eat animal products these days. Almost never beef or pork (for health reasons) but we do turkey and chicken and seafood, and milk (low-fat) and eggs and cheese. But we get locally produced, organic, free-range, all that, and when we buy salmon we get wild, not farmed.

After about ten years as a veggie I suddenly could not stop thinking about tuna and it went downhill from there. :o) Still, it's better the animals had nice lives, not the penned up, unable to move, standing in their own crap, artifical light, hormone-stuffed, antibiotics-stuffed feedlot kind of wretchedness. Also better for those who consume them.

**eggs from free-range hens reportedly have about half the cholesterol of eggs from chickens-in-a-box, and most of that cholesterol is LDL**

Okay, I rambled. It's Saturday.