(This piece originally ran in Notes from the Field, a weekly column part of the main newsletter sent to Waltham Fields Community Farm CSA-holders. By this time I was working for the farm.)

Weeding is a funny thing. Fields are not cleanrooms, and no matter how many plants one pulls, there will always be more. There would be no harvest if it required growing only the desired plants and no others. Fortunately, such is not the goal: we need only encourage our chosen plants to outcompete.

From the perspective of a plant, to farm is to curate its surroundings until harvest. Plants are not machines, but we rely on them for transformation nonetheless: seed into leaves, dirt into vegetable. For me, there remains a sense of awe on seeing the seeds we planted become plants poking through the soil.

I have been thinking this week about the radishes. Planted at two different times, the younger has reached maturity first. Both are and will be delicious, of course - just not in the order they were planted. What made the difference between them? Was it different weeds, temperatures, location in the field? We can only speculate, and ask though I may, the radishes do not answer.