Yesterday, after lunch, I wandered into my garden with the intention of just looking to see where things stood in terms of crop development and so forth.   While there, it became readily apparent that I had ignored several beds for who knows how long, and the soil I had so painstakingly amended and attended to had become somewhat overgrown with weeds.

We have had good periods of rain lately followed by lots of sun which in turn will aid in the production of vile grasses and opportunistic plant-like bushes with roots that seem to go all the way to China.

Anybody who has ever grown a garden is familiar with this story. It seems that it has been this way since Adam and Eve were expunged from the original garden and destined to scrape and scrap the earth for every bit of food they could.

The truth is, no matter how careful you are in pulling weeds, even after a shower when they come out without much effort, there will always be more every year. I don’t fully understand how this happens but I know that it is true. As long as it is called “today” you will have “weeds”. I think it is even in the Bible—or was that “troubles”?

Anyway, and to the point of this post, pulling weeds is the epitome of a “window of opportunity” scenario. Window of opportunity is defined as: A short period of time during which an opportunity must be acted on or missed.   Weeding the garden is all this and more. You are either in the mood or not. If you are not, you walk past the weeds and busy your mind with other, more important thoughts and actions.

If you find that the thought of getting on your hands and knees is not repellent, you need to strike while the iron is hot.   Actually weeding while you are in the mood is a very satisfying endeavour—once you are done of course. At that point your hands ache and are covered with dirt (life giving soil for those of you who are mostly organic) and your knees—well you can’t really feel your knees at all by that time.

However, as you stumble away and towards the sink, you take a moment and look back at that carefully prepared plot of soil and the satisfaction of a job well done is all the reward you need. Take it from me.

Here’s hoping that next year won’t be quite as weedy. Enjoy your ride.