Physical, Mental, And Eco-Friendly Benefits Of Weeding
Life has been pretty stressful lately, to say the least. We’re now 200 days or so into the COVID-19 pandemic (that’s roughly 6 months since the US first shut down, since my children’s schools physically closed their doors, and that people all over the world have faced major changes in their lives either directly or indirectly as a result of this virus). On top of the pandemic, and the climate fires in California, we’ve also seen enormous political and racial upheaval here in America these past several months, which I’ve written about. While I’m proactively trying to do my part to bring about change both for climate change awareness and human rights issues, I’m also doing some things at home for self-care and my own mental health that have been quite helpful in many ways as well. That’s why I’m writing about the benefits of weeding – physically, emotionally, environmentally, and metaphorically.
Yes, you read that right: the benefits of weeding.
Though I’m a New York City girl born and raised, and am still very much at the beginning of my personal journey towards turning my brown thumb green, I have discovered the joy of weeding a garden and am finding it to be a perfect activity for these wild, tumultuous times!
Our co-op preschool asked for help with weeding during the spring and summer since the school campus was closed. Nature was taking back the play yard. Usually we have parent volunteers at school who do this work. But since the campus was closed for physical school, my family and I volunteered to come by every few weeks to pull weeds. As a bonus, we also got to pick fresh ripe peaches and other produce from their fruit and vegetable garden. To be honest, this delicious harvest was more than worth the effort put forth in caring for the yard!
How To Pull Weeds From A Yard
Before I get into the benefits of weeding, let’s talk about the how-to of it all. Weeding is pretty straightforward once you know what a weed looks like. Where we live, a common weed is the dandelion plant. You can spot it by the cheery yellow flowers it sprouts, which are actually perfect for making DIY flower crowns with. Those flowers can also sometimes be white gauzy globes that are fun to blow and make a wish on.
But if you look closely at the roots of these dandelion plants, they grow horizontally on top of the earth. Their stems choke out the grass below it until the only thing left growing in the lawn are the dandelion vines. (Dandelion greens are not all bad. They are delicious and nutritious in teas and soups, but that is a post for another time).
So, once you identify a dandelion weed (or other invasive plant species in your yard), it’s just a matter of gently but firmly pulling it out from top to root. It’s important to get the roots out and not just the most visible part. Otherwise, it’ll keep growing back. If that sounds like a metaphor to you, you’re not wrong!
This entire clump is just one dandelion weed. Wow right?!
Weeding Is SO Satisfying When You’re Feeling Stuck
As I was pulling these plants out of the ground, I realized how satisfying weeding can be. It is fulfilling both on an immediate level of cleaning up a yard and a mental level of accomplishing something bigger than yourself during a time of feeling stuck in a bad situation.
In a period when my life and my country are both in literal chaos due to this pandemic, wildfires, political upheaval, and the scourge of racism, there is something so simply satisfying about being able to pull an unwanted weed out of the garden.
Even though rooting out racism in the United States is not an easy or simple task, and seems to be an impossible feat at times given how many minute and major changes need to be made to truly obliterate it from our national consciousness, pulling out actual weeds is a physical reminder that it all starts with your actions and the efforts you make. It is a physical representation that the only way forward is by going through.
In reflecting on the benefits of weeding, I’m again reminded of the phrase attributed to Gandhi that inspired me to start this site in the first place:
Ridding a garden of weeds can feel like an insurmountable task. Yet I can pull one weed plant out and see actual – albeit small – change in a garden, slowly but surely. While I may not be able to change all the racist thoughts and actions of some people, I may be able to change one racist thought or action in one person through my own actions, or words, or very existence. This small realization gives me hope during an otherwise bleak moment in history.
Weeding Is Eco-Friendly
Weeding a yard or garden is a quintessentially eco-friendly activity. Spraying toxic weed killer runs into the gutters and dumps straight into the ocean where I live. Weeding is the literal green alternative.
And by getting on my knees and dirtying up my hands through weeding, I am connecting with the earth and being reminded that we humans are the caretakers for this planet. If we don’t tend to it and watch out for the growth of weeds, both physical and metaphorical, the beauty and goodness will be overrun by an invasive, selfish, and destructive species.
Weeding is the perfect metaphor for why we must be pro-active in our care for the environment.
Weeding is Good Exercise
Especially during this COVID-19 quarantine time, when some of our usual go-to physical activities aren’t safe to do, weeding is a nice way to work up a sweat. One of the physical benefits of weeding is that it’s a great arm workout to pull those weeds. Just be sure to alternate so both sides of your body are feeling the burn. I like to fill up one paper bag at a time with weeds and walk it over to the green waste bin, so I can log some extra steps in the process.
Look how many dandelion weeds I collected! And this was just one of several bags we filled on that particular visit.
Weeding Can’t Be All Done In A Day
Another thing to know about weeding is that it can’t all be done in a day. It is backbreaking work. I developed blisters on my fingers from weed-pulling, even after I started wearing gloves. And no matter how many weeds you pull, there will always be new ones sprouting up the next day.
That said, another benefit of weeding is that it’s a good reminder to pace ourselves. There will always be more to do. It will always feel like not enough is being done at once, or the progress is too slow. But like everything else in the world, and especially in the pursuit of becoming more eco-conscious, we have to keep getting up each day and doing the hard labor.
Weeding may feel like a thankless job, but it is ultimately a rewarding one.
No one will pat you on the back for weeding your yard and garden. Accolades and trophies are definitely not benefits of weeding. But YOU will know that your efforts have had a positive effect. YOU will know that you put a little bit of goodness back into the planet.
Weeding is ultimately both a self-serving activity and a self-less activity. You do it for the future of the plants whose lives you’d like to nurture. And you do it as a reminder to yourself that positive action reaps positive rewards, no matter how small.
So, the next time you’re feeling frustrated by the state of politics or human rights around you, rise up, speak out, and change the world. But also, don’t forget to sometimes get down on your hands and knees and do the hard work on the ground around you. Your garden will thank you!
