End of Season Chores

I spent some time pulling weeds this morning. Pulling weeds is good for the soul. It can get rid of a lot of frustration. After the weed pulling, I started a not-so-enjoyable pulling chore. I had to pull up and throw away the blight stricken tomato plants.


It was a sad chore. They were loaded with blight stricken tomatoes in various stages of growth, cut short by disease. Yesterday I picked ripe and green tomatoes that were not affected by blight. We had a big pan of fried green tomatoes for supper, yummy to be sure, but not what I had intended.


I also pulled up the white and zucchini squash vines this morning. They were no longer producing and it was time for them to go into the compost pile. The tomato plants were not compost bound, they went on the brush pile. There is no use spreading the disease by using the sick plants for compost. The early cucumber vines are also composting.

I love to make compost. Made from the discarded portions of plants; peelings, dead leaves, grass clippings, rotting vegetables and fruits, it turns into something necessary for the life of plants. Rich compost added to the soil is nature's fertilizer. It is full of nutrients and useful bacteria the plants need to grow up healthy and strong.

I think it just goes to show that even the awful, rotten things that happen to us can be recycled into positive, useful things. We just have to put them in our personal compost pile and let them provide the fertilizer (knowledge and wisdom) for future growth.