Alfalfa

Alfalfa. I am NOT fond of alfalfa. No, not the character in "Little Rascals" and not the city in Oklahoma. I'm not fond of the plant. To some it may be referred to as "one of the most important legumes used in agriculture". To horses and cows I am sure it is just as yummy as can be. In my yard it is nothing but a nuisance. Yard? Okay, on my plot of dirt where my house is situated alfalfa is winning the weed battle.

The alfalfa plant is the hardest weed I have ever encountered in my life. It's root system is absolutely remarkable and altogether frustrating. According to Wikipedia, the roots can go down as far as 4.5 meters! This would explain why I have NEVER been able to extract the entire plant. Instead, I dig and dig and dig and then I eventually start hacking away at the thick, twisted roots until the plant and the root become detached.

This morning I dreaded the idea of going outside and continuing my war with this weed, mostly because of the difficult removal process. The roots are the reason why it so strong, so resilient to my efforts. My feelings started to veer from loathing to admiration. Deep roots, eh? We are taught to be firmly planted in the gospel. Firmly planted would suggest to me that we have deep, strong roots that are resilient to outside forces. How deep are my roots?

What lessons can I take from this?

1. I should be more like alfalfa
2. NEVER build your home in a former alfalfa field

It is hasn't started raining yet so we might as well get busy. And so it is that we will put on our grubbies, grab our work gloves, shovels, and hoes and head out into the dirt. I will use the shovel to remove noxious weeds from the ground and Jaxon will try to make a basket with the weeds into the bucket. This process will go pretty fast until I hit the alfalfa. At which point Jaxon looses all interest in helping and simply enjoys romping in the dirt or telling the neighbors dog to stop barking at him.