we can become fluent in multiple ways to make more life, and one of those is to learn to divide our plants in the springtime. some plants don’t mind at all if you split them up, in fact they thrive for it and will multiply to take up the space, grateful for the assistance, particularly if they were getting too snug in a pot. the ground-cover comfrey (nice for digging deep for minerals) and the lupine (excellent for nitrogren-fixing) are perfect for this. i regularly do this with mint, sunchokes, horseradish (okay, i keep this in a pot), chinese yam, rhubarb, iris. i’d like to learn to do much more, to diversify this garden with plants to fill every need in our biosphere.
i was lucky to have a green-thumbed mother, so i witnessed enough of this sort of thing not to be quite as intimidated as i have been by, saying, tending a flock or assisting at animal births. nevertheless, the skill to grow what we need dwindled in the last couple of generations in spite of our farming roots in finland and germany. so much reconnection, so much re-skilling is needed.
having the plant-knowledge in our repertoire is something we can pass to the next generation easily, just by living, immersed, just by doing these small, satisfying tasks together. when we do, we keep the language alive and set our children up for a life that might meet uncertain futures with equanimity. we can create the conditions for possible futures.
you might like to check out the newest offerings in the appleturnover membership, if you’d like to meet up to talk with me in different ways. virtual farm tours start in a month…