Grass springs. up. If you come along and eat it, it springs up again. That’s because its regenerative life is under the ground, in rhizomes, sods, roots and seeds. When grass needs to move, it shoots out underground, and comes up again where you least expected it but should have. This is perfect behaviour when your audience is a cow or a bison, who accept grass as a gift.

Fruit bearing bushes like the saskatoon also spring, but they spring out, not up. Even when they spring up, they spring out. That’s because their regenerative life is in twigs and buds and fruit, and the seeds in the fruit. The seeds can only grow if they move away from the plant. Branches can only extend so far. Beyond that, animals, including humans, carry the seed. The fruit is only a lure.

When we apply herbicides to the living Earth, we should remember that the blade-bearers will fight us.

Royal Gala Apple Orchard

These issues are classically described as “man against nature.” But nature is not fighting.