"The tragic reality is that very few sustainable systems are designed or applied by those who hold power, and the reason for this is obvious and simple: to let people arrange their own food, energy and shelter is to lose economic and political control over them. We should cease to look to power structures, hierarchical systems, or governments to help us, and devise ways to help ourselves." - Bill Mollison

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Haughty Asparagus


Looking down on their new relations the snobbish green asparagus was not at all pleased to be sharing its bed with a foreign visitor. "Who are these purple aberrations that have managed the winter and are now attempting to become permanent squatters, disrupting our all green society?" they demanded.


Looking up at their much larger rivals the peculiar purple asparagus respond "We are much sweeter and more tender then you, green asparagus. The farmer says we may stay as long as our performance holds up."


The green ones scowl and make preparation for a most bountiful harvest, "We will show the farmer who is best, we may not be as tasty but are far more productive" they tell each other.

The purple asparagus responds in kind, focusing it's energy on delicate flavor rather than quantity.


The farmer smiles, having overheard the argument, and thinks to himself "Just wait until I introduce the spargel" (white asparagus).

4 comments:

CG said...

what a beautiful blog! Glad to find it!

Silke Powers said...

I LOVE asparagus - the green kind we eat a lot of here in the US and the white kind I grew up with! What a treat!! Thanks for the suggestions for our back yard. We do have some hostas that are doing ok and haven't tried the climbing hydrangeas. We'll have to check those out! We also have Japanese aralias, which are doing well except they are susceptible to scale and are somewhat delicate. :) Silke

Mr. H. said...

Thanks CG,

We have been following your blog much longer than I have had or even considered having a blog. Your writings have been an inspiration to us as we can very much relate to your lifestyle.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mike

Mr. H. said...

Hi Silke,

Don't be fooled by my asparagus pictures. We have grown them for many years now but never had great success with them . I have the hardest time being committed to crops that have to be left in the same spot for more than a year. I think I have finally found a permanent bed for them...wish me luck.

I really do like this particular vegetable as well though. Like you said, what a treat, especially first thing in the spring.

I'll try to post a picture of our climbing hydrangeas this summer.

Mike

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