I was striding purposefully through the fields with manly gait one day, as is my habit, when I chanced upon this lovely specimen. What otherworldly beauty! Such exquisite flowers, and such spiky fruit! Everything about it looks lovely and very poisonous. How can something "look" poisonous, I wondered? Is it really poisonous, or just an ordinary piece of unappetizing roughage? So I took a big bite! Just kidding, I didn't do that, I looked it up and sure enough, this plant is known as jimson weed and is indeed quite toxic. Apparently, in the hands of a skilled practitioner and at the right dose it is also powerful medicine, but I'm not about to try! Still, I think its important to keep that in mind, lest I start to think of some plants as "good"or "bad". What is interesting about this jimson weed-- to me, at least-- is where I found it, after being on this farm for 16 years and never seeing one. It is growing on an erosion- control swale I put in this spring, made of rocks and some oddly sandy potting soil my cousin Rebecca had imported a few years ago. Jimson weed likes to grow on sandy ground, according to the sources I read, and there it is, and nowhere else. I'm leaving it be for now, since it is helping to anchor the swale in place, but I don't think I'll let the seeds mature inside the fruit, just in case.
Other than that I don't really have much farm news. A mini-tornado came along and ripped the plastic off one of our greenhouses, but the structure wasn't damaged and no one was hurt. Fall greens are starting to come in and things like beets. Tomatoes and okra are winding down. The usual story for September.
