It's easy to fool others if we cover something we don't want them to know about with a 'pretty' covering. It is simple to distract many with artificial, calm and beautiful exteriors that mask potentially dangerous situations or hidden problems. Take the Tooth Soap® Urban Farm for example.
I find this lovely patch of clover where the plant beds are going to be placed and I start to dig to make the ground level, and low and behold, I don't find worms but I find something else. It is large, white and has an end that looked like it would burst easily.
At first I am thinking, "The free ranging hens are going to love these!"
I continue to stare at the gigantic worm of all worms and realize that this might not be so good after all. It is HUGE and could probably eat an entire tomato and cucumber in a day. I call Farmer R who lives down the way and she tells me it doesn't sound good but there is an organic powder I can put on the lawn that will kill them. She instructs me to take one of the grubs to Farmer D and they will know what to do.
Farmer R also says, "Anytime you have a problem, just take the bug or leaf (that the bug ate) to Farmer D and they will give you the right organic solution." I continued to dig and found so many grubs that I was beginning to rethink all this farming business.
The worms were bad enough, but grubs… they are beyond yuck to me. The way they move they are so completely uppercase CREEPY. When I uncovered them they were all exposed and their movements were screaming, "Cover me back up! I don't want to be in the light! I want to stay in the dark!"
I put gloves on (for fear of grub touch) and I missed the first time because my gloves were too thick. My heart was pounding but I was trying to act casual about the whole thing (like I was some cool farmer who was not affected by crawling things). I was faking it big time. I finally got that grub into the bag and I zip the top real quick as if the grub is going to escape and attack me.
I wanted to go to Farmer D's right away but I got delayed so the grub was sitting in that bag for quite some time.
A couple of hours later I leave and grab the plastic grub bag and I notice that the grub is no longer white… it was now dark beige. I know the grub suffocated and I felt guilty because I killed it. It was the suffering that got me. It wasn't a quick kill.
The reality is though, that these are grubs that will soon be Japanese beetles and their goal is to destroy any tasty crops I work hard to grow. They will get to eat but I will not. It is either them or me.
So I have to do it. I am forced to be a mass murderer of Japanese beetle larvae. I have to sprinkle the Milky Spore on the farm to kill the Japanese beetles and this will deprive the hens of some tasty morsels. It must be done.
There was a reminder for me in the grub episode though. Sometimes there are things buried inside of us that could be eating away slowly, but surely. We can pretend they aren't there or cover those buried things even further but it will only cause more problems in the end.
Spend time thinking and pondering any little buried things in you and bring them to the surface. Once you see exactly what you are dealing with, then you can get to the right organic solution.
