I'm still impressed. Twigs planted in the dampness of spring. Rains and sun nourishing throughout the summer. Leaves bursting forth verdant green. Transforming to brilliant fire engine red in autumn. And finally returning to twig form in the crispness of winter. To start the amazing cycle again. This time heavy with fruit.
But now the young blueberries are beneath grass and perennial weeds. Japanese beetles attack. And I have only so much time and energy. I cannot keep up. What will happen to our wonderful blueberry field? It can not be good for them. To be so choked and suppressed. They have completed their fruit bearing but they need to keep growing for next year.
That's why we have decided to take back the field... with synthetics. (That's a nice way of saying "chemicals"). I feel as though I failed. My dreams are larger than my time and energy. Certainly not larger than my effort, for I put hours and hours in the humid hot heat of our Midwest summer sun. Bent over with hoe in hand and weeds ripping from soil left in a heap to be mowed into mulch. But the grass is close to seeding.... to repeat their annual seeding. And the field is large. Those weeds which are too tall or old to succumb to the chemical will be yanked and destroyed manually.
We will return to natural practices as soon as the cycle is broken.
Journey Joys - It's hard to express the "journey joy" today. I am thankful that there are chemicals that can help. And yet I am torn between my strong desire to grow naturally without chemicals and my strong desire to have a healthy productive field. My husband and I have always said that we would follow organic farming as long as we could. But if the crop was in danger of failing we would use chemicals. We are at that point. And yet I still feel.... discouraged.
