Complaints & Chamomile

Everyone's in a grouchy, grumpy-slumpy mood around here; the summer doldrums have set in. Weeds keep shooting up....... as does the lawn......... as do the corn plants (which is a good thing).........as do corn prices (a bad thing if you need to buy corn to feed to livestock------$2.50/bushel a year ago, now $6.50/bushel------you do the math to figure out the increase in that grocery bill!). And, summer humidity has arrived.....and the neighbor's hog confinement building reeks to high heaven at night........ Never mind the fact that our farm and home were mercifully spared from the tornado, of course!! (Jeannelle, stop complaining and straighten up your thoughts!!)

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Anyhow, if that isn't enough bellyaching, I'm also afflicted with that woman's disorder of feeling stupid and ugly, and desire nothing more than to find a scraggly weed patch to hide in. It looks like my canine friend, Buster, has the same idea. Maybe he'll allow me to join him! Believe you me, I know all about Buster's quirks and problems.......he hasn't had a bath in a coon's age (a phrase my mother has always used so I was curious to find out its origin), has halitosis, eats calf cleanings, licks cows' rears and other things, and is accompanied by a swarm of flies and gnats wherever he goes. He's probably desperately in need of therapy or medication, but, does he ever complain......NO!! He simply plops down happily in the nearest comfortable spot. He's an example for us all!!

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Here's a plant with a small daisy-like bloom and fine, feathery leafing. I think it belongs in the family of Wild Chamomile, matricaria, also sometimes mistakenly called Mayweed.

And, if anyone reading this can enlighten me as to the name of the wispy grass alongside, please do so. Every summer, my whole life long, I've seen this graceful grass growing along field driveways and fence rows, but have never learned its true name. (I'm quite certain it is not Canadian Wild Rye.)

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Actually, I'm glad our place has many weedy, uncivilized spots. Years ago, the first time I ever visited this farm with my boyfriend (Husband, now), I was taken aback by the numerous patches of weeds cluttering up the farmstead. Clutter it was to me back then, anyway, but over the years I've come to appreciate the variety of plants, and a couple wild plant books have taught me that even the most disgusting, annoying weed has a proper name, and a scientific name, and belongs to a family, bless its little heart! Plus-----amazingly-----it may have served a medicinal or nutritional purpose to native peoples long ago.

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I tend to leave many weedy areas alone around the place, just to see what kind of plants will show up there. One of our milk truck drivers, who is also a science teacher interested in prairie environments, has told me that in any given area, there may be plants which are one-of-a-kind, unique to that particular locale! Isn't that cool!! Ever since he told me that, I've been less inclined to mow down every weedy patch in sight, even if it does mean our place looks a bit wild and woolly.

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Happy July, by the way!! Summer is marching right along, as it always does. Enjoy it while its here!