Field Mowing by photosynthesis
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
This is Bruce on his tractor, mowing our 5 acre field (which we hire him to do once or twice each year). The field is filled with star thistle, which is a noxious, invasive weed - here's the blurb from Wikipedia:
"The Yellow star-thistle plant has the ability to create monotypic stands and habitats in the cultivated soil of fields, graded dirt sites, and disturbed natural ecosystem lands. Its colonization eliminates and prevents other plant species from growing, terminating the habitat's biodiversity. Extensive spreading monotypic fields of yellow starthistle are not uncommon. Its growth plasticity, competitiveness, preference for the Mediterranean climate, and a lack of natural herbivore enemies and co-evolved species, make it a very successful invader. The plant is an invasive pest in field crops, degrades native plant habitats and natural ecosystems, prevents the grazing of domestic animals in rangelands, and is a physical barrier to indigenous animal movement in wildlands."
It's very hard to eradicate without using toxic chemicals & is a fire hazard, which is why we have it mowed regularly.
One of my favorite quotations is from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered."
I generally interpret that in the positive spirit in which he meant it, but in the case of star thistle, I think it's virtues will remain undiscovered for a long time to come...
Comments (9)
cool capture
Great capture!
I agree with Emerson, but I also know that various plants are quite poisonous. The poisonous may be useful in small doses for disease, and probably create an overall balance in nature. But they can be quite invasive and difficult to work around. One day a young Buddhist monk was walking in India and came upon a tiger. He didn't respect the tiger's space and didn't out of its way, and the tiger pawed him. The student was ok, just badly bruised. He said to his teacher, "I approached him in peace, it's my nature! Why would he attack me?" The teacher answered, "HIS nature is to attack anything he doesn't understand; just because you love a tiger doesn't mean it will love you back: If you can't come to understand it, keep distance from it; not everything on earth is put here to get along with you..." (Told to me by an Indian Buddhist friend.) Just a different version of what you said about these weeds...What stands out in this shot is the minimal quality of it: A big swath of ground, very yellow and green. The backdrop of those rich green trees. The fence with its undulating wires. And that bright red-orange mower-tractor, with the man running it. A very pleasing image, stark and eye popping. Minimal yet very rich. (sorry for the extra ebots, my server is sputtering again, and my comments are being chewed up...luckily I copied them, this session, for that very reason...)
Fine capture
Wonderful shot!
I don't suppose this is something that hiring a herd of goats for a few days would take care of? They bring them in around here to clear out pieces of land that have overgrown (with lots of stuff, including blackberry brambles!) Seems a lot nicer than putting out chemicals, and goats are cute in their own furry way (love those square pupils!) Just a thought. The red tractor is quite photogenic in this field; I like this shot very much!
Goats would be a great solution if our acreage was all fenced in, but it's not.
As a former goat owner, I can tell you that goats cannot eat everything, some plants, such as oleander can kill them - and they won't eat regular thistle, I pulled it by hand. I am surprised that there aren't any birds in the shot - when I mowed our 10 acres I was always accompanied by birds (usually cattle egrets), snapping up insects flushed by my tractor/brush hog.
Seems to me this is the most efficient way to handle the problem, and it's certainly photogenic, as well! :)
I like to photograph people especially when it's daily life. It is often forgotten, what people need to do everything. GREAT image!