Ecological Weed Management

Since work on the farm ended early, I got a chance to check out a MOFGA workshop on ecological weed management over at Fisher Farm in Winterport. For the two-and-a-half-hour drive north, I figured to pack a traditional Maine snack: whoopie pie and a can of Moxie.

I may have been a bit dramatic here; it wasn't quite that bad. The Moxie was a bit bland though, as if it were missing some crucial ingredient. It was the equivalent of corn syrup mixed in with carbonated water, aspiring to become the Coke or Pepsi of the Northeast but falling short of its goal. The whoopie pie tasted like a soft-textured version of the Oreo, almost like Choco Pie. In any case, the sugar rush was enough to keep me awake until we arrived in Winterport.

Quackgrass

A weed can be defined as any wild plant that you did not intend to grow in a given area. Quackgrass, lamb's quarters, clover, vetch, plantain, stinging nettle and dandelions are the typical kinds that I've encountered and learned to identify so far. Quackgrass has probably been the most annoying type of weed for me to deal with. It contains rhizomes, which are underground stems with nodes, that, when ripped apart instead of uprooted whole, give rise to multiple new plants. Taking a step back, it's biological evolution at its finest.

Hand-weeding tools come in all shapes and sizes. If I had enough time, I'd rather weed with my bare hands. There's a kind of satisfaction and sense of victory in outlasting a weed and pulling up the plant with its root structure still intact.

The khurpi, an iron spatula that seemed like it would be more useful for flipping pancakes than uprooting weeds, retails for $117.00. I was a bit skeptical. Apparently, it's the most-widely used tool in India and Pakistan.

There were quite a few ridiculous-looking ones in the bunch.