We Make, We Observe

I know precious little about seeds. But I’m learning to identify the wild plants growing in the open field that stretches between the house I live in and the stream winding through the neighborhood. Aster, jewelweed, woodsorrel, and summer grape all sprang up unbidden this past year after I decided to stop mowing—partially out of busy-ness, but also out of curiosity. Plants which I’d stunted or fought the previous year exerted their brilliant dominance, their seeds dormant in the soil now produ...