Sometimes what you need is right under your nose. You just cannot see it. On the two islands that I travel in between, the weeds are growing furiously. In Drottningholm the kirskål (bishop’s goutweed) spreads its juicy roots under an increasingly vibrant bush of green coverage. Out on my wild island in Mälaren the svinmålla (white goosefoot) is so widespread people might think I have become a svinmålla farmer. I am a gardener in my soul but work has had me sitting at my PC and cursing the weeds.
I look up from my screen and see Mrs. Bengtsson, an 82-year-old gardening heroine who trudges out onto the beautiful garden that she cares for on her side of the hedges several times a day. Since we cut down the hedges in the spirit of openness (and with the ulterior motive of enjoying her lovely weed-free garden), I have noticed that when Mrs. Bengtson comes out to ‘play’ she walks slowly and stiffly at first, but once in the garden appears to forget about her aches and pains. With a husband who is not well, children long grown up and grandchildren that drop in very occasionally, life can begin to feel lonely. In the garden the loneliness lifts and she is in the full company of radiant color, fresh air, the aroma of life and the sunlight.
Not even the rain could stop her. Out she trudged donning a shiny black rain hat with a wide brim that looked like it was a real knock-out in the 1970s. Her garden looked so lovely, I think she wondered what there was to do today. Then she remembered asking my husband whether she could weed the hedges. What could he say? So, she set about the lovely bishop’s goutweed growing voraciously under the hedges. Within a half an hour ye olde goutweed was a pile of defeated vermin in her bucket. It had no idea how important it was to her life.
This past weekend I took a page out of Mrs. Bengtsson’s book and went at the white goosefoot on my wild island. Call me delusional but after 4 hours with it I felt as though I had been to the best spa. Looking at me, you could be forgiven for wondering whether I had just emerged from a coal mine or engaged in self-flagellation. My arms were criss-crossed with the evidence that I had been out fighting the weeds under the climbing roses.
Very often people think that they’ve got to book a trip to Thailand in order to relax. My advice this spring (and in the interests of reducing your CO2 emissions) is to seek out the weeds. If you would rather not pull the kirskål or svinmålla out, remember that many of nature’s weeds are its very own gift to your health at this time of year. Despite their unappetizing English names, they make a tasty, if not slightly labor-intensive spinach. And the dandelion…that is an experience all unto its own. We’ll take that another time.
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If you are interested in more Nordic garden adventures visit http://www.nordicwellbeing.com in the gardens section. Welcome!
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