GOT TO PICK YOU, NOT USE A KNIFE

(Music: GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE, Lennon-McCartney) (info./disclaimers) (glossary) (index) (gardening guide)

I was alone, I took a walk
I didn't know what I would find there
Another plant that might be good
As food or medicine -- free wild fare

Ooo, then I got this strange feeling
Ooo, and some voice kept repeating
Harvesting is sacred, not a chore

You didn't run, you didn't hide
You knew I wanted just to hold you
Until I'd looked and knew for sure
That there were many more just like you

Ooo, then I sensed you were near me
Ooo, and I wanted you to hear me
I knew what ol' Tom Ward would surely say

Got to pick you, not use a knife

What can I do, now that I see
I'm with you in a bounteous stand here
Brothers and sisters all around
They can afford to have you leave here

Ooo, then I suddenly hear you
Ooo, Tom Ward said I should heed you
Asking me to put away my knife

Got to pick you, not use a knife

I got to pick you, not use a knife

I was alone with your insides
I felt the tissues' vital force there
It didn't want a metal cut
Instead it wanted loving hand-tear

What's left heals more quickly
What's harvested's more healthy
Hands-on helps us pray ...

Comments: Tom Ward, an herbalist, wildcrafter, Permaculture instructor, and appropriate-living guru, was one of the Beetless' earliest inspirations and also one of their earliest fans. His book Greenward, Ho! explains his preferred method of harvesting: gripping the desired plant part firmly between thumb and forefinger, and using the action of the third finger to remove it from the parent plant.

 
Excerpted from The Beetless' Gardening Book: An Organic Gardening Songbook/Guidebook, copyright 1997 by Chris Roth (info./disclaimers) (glossary) (index) (gardening guide)