The Day Roundup Arrived

The day arrived that my landlord told me that he was purchasing this property and that I could continue gardening to my hearts content because he didn't think that he would be building with this economy any time soon. As my heart swelled, it also came to a crash when he told me that he was going to level the weeds in the field with Roundup.

Roundup.

I begged him to rethink. I explored renting goats. I bought a weed whacker and set to chopping down the field. I was half way in when he drove up with his helper and started spraying. It was one of the worst days I had had in a very long time. My dreams of an organic garden had crashed. I don't want to go into the dangers of Roundup and the horrors and evil of Monsanto - not right now, Not at this very moment. If you know me, you know how I feel about these things. If you don't know what the fuss is all about, go look it up online.

He spared my garden and stayed as far away as he could. But it travels. I don't think it actually got on my growing peas. I don't think it actually got on anything but the soil around my sectioned off area, but I was heartbroken nonetheless. The coyote bushes got cut down and I said I didn't mind if the acacia tree was chopped down, but then I was regretful later on - it would have been a better place to grow lettuces under the hot sun. And of course, most of the brambles and weeds grew back anyway. But for the rest of the growing year, we had no hillside filled with Calendula. No field of raccoons and critters. Mice and bugs came into my house that had never entered before, we had the worst flea problem that I had ever had anywhere, and instead of feasting on all the grasses and weeds surrounding my spring garden, my seedlings were ravaged by bugs. I fought the bugs with neem oil and soapy water, diatomaceous earth, cut off pop bottles placed over the baby plants, and hand picked cucumber beetles by the bushel ...........stomping on or dropping into soapy water. The rape of the garden calmed down after spring, but I knew that it had been extra bad because of the demise of the field. If I get to do this next Spring, I'll jump on the weed whacking much sooner to keep ahead of The Man.

I continued to use my weed whacker after that. I kept most of it down. It wasn't that difficult. He came back once during the summer and went after the blackberries again. But there are other ways to take care of these things. A little hard work. Maybe a goat or two...........it seems to be the thing to use goats in Seattle...........I did my best to educate. All you can do is to do your best. I love my landlord. Don't get me wrong. But he isn't very progressive in this area. He thinks I'm a hippie. And that word is still used in a very dismissive way. So sad.

I just want to eat some good, wholesome food.