Deer tracks, plainly imprinted in the muddy mulch. Tracks, just beside the stump of a lily stem nibbled down to within a couple inches of its life. The hosta stalks are near leafless as well, though there are no tell-tale tracks. I knew it would happen. Deer regularly pass behind our town home and graze along the way. The truth is, I am surprised it has taken this long to notice their ill-effects. The loveliness I have helped create is, to call it a different name, "attractive nuisance."
All of which is simply to call attention to variant perspectives. If "one person's meat is another person's poison," it is likewise true that one person's aesthetic is another's sustenance.
Secondary vs. primary.
Desirable vs. essential.
Flower vs. food.
We have been trying to get organized enough to clean out our storage room to the benefit of Goodwill or Salvation Army. We have all kinds of things shelved there -- a now replaced VCR, an unused microwave from our old house, dishes beyond counting, one more boom box than we are every likely to use, just to name the obvious. And of course there is more. Like wire hangers that seem to propagate when the lights are out and the door is closed, the "stuff" just seems to multiply. What once seemed like an extravagant amount of space has somehow swelled beyond capacity. We need to purge the boxes and shelves. We need to let go of far too much that we have long since forgotten we are holding.
Our leftovers that well could be someone else's basics. Our seeds that could well attractively sprout.
Our excess flowers, as it were, that could be someone else's food. I'll keep looking for the hoof prints in the mulch, as odd invitations to remember, to whisper thanks, and to offer the nourishment at my disposal.
Eat up. More will grow.
1 comment:
We can identify with both "causes" as we have long ago decided the only way to "beat" the deer and rabits is to plant enough annual and perennial vegetation to provide for them and we can enjoy the left overs. So in the spring when they are eating the yucca plants we know that new growth will come and we will be happy to see it.
As to the Salvation Army gifts, our valued accountant tells us (because we give away so much) to take pictures of items to be donated before we take them to the charity - just in case the IRS wants to have some "proof" for what has been taken!
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