The battle against invasive species rages on. The season for doing something about American Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) is quickly closing. The plants are starting to go to seed, bundles of berries appearing at the top of the shoots. This plant is a real piece of work. Imported from North America, they thrive in disturbed areas but can also spread into dense scrub. They grow tall and bushy, then die back in a single summer. The fleshy trunks will later dry out and oxidise, which can become a serious fire hazard if left to grow unhindered for a number of years.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa26bb6b-6a08-4e51-b911-69a5778fd6cd_2048x1152.jpeg)
They spread easily by seed, but are also rhizomatous1, Pokeweed grows very large very fast. I’m not sure if they’re relying on stored energy in the roots for that quick growth, or photosynthesis from their large leaves. Probably a mixture of both. This year, I’m making an effort to simply cut it as soon as I see it — much like bracken — with the aim of preventing any of the plants from reaching maturity, producing seed, and storing energy in the root systems. If the plant is removed after going to seed, then it should be burned with the berries.
As always, fighting invasive species is a long term game. You could go out and uproot each plant with a garden fork, but that takes time, time which I don’t have. I often carry a sickle when I’m out and about on other business, and it only takes an extra few seconds to unfold the blade and slice through a non-native or monopolistic plant, so that is my preferred method, but it only works with constant vigilance and repeat visits.
Last September, on a friend’s farm, I saw big pokeweeds growing in the middle of an overgrazed field. They were spindly plants, it turned out that his sheep had eaten all the leaves, leaving the red branches and berries standing like naked skeletons in the dust. Young shoots and leaves are edible when cooked, but the roots, mature stalks, and seeds within the berries are poisonous. The berries were used as a dye to make cheap red wine more red and increase the value, perhaps that is how the plant ended up in Portugal.
Besides the ecological disruptions of the Pokeweed, another concern of mine is that landowners and farmers feel compelled to use herbicides as a means to kill and control the spread (this trend could be just as damaging to the environment as the invasive species themselves). In fact, I recently took responsibility to care for the land surrounding a ruined house just up the road from me. I was speaking with the owner of that land, who doesn’t live here, when he mentioned that he would return at the end of May with herbicides.
That man drives up here a few times per year to clean up his land with a strimmer — better than most absent owners — and he seemed dejected because every time he returns, the land is already overgrown again. When he mentioned herbicides, I offered to use my animals to control the regrowth through targeted grazing instead. He was fine with that idea, but now I find myself with an extra job while I struggle to make time for these things. I’ll make it work somehow, it’s worth it to protect the watershed from toxic chemicals.
I really wish that I had more stories to tell this week. As you may know, things have not exactly been going to plan in recent times. I’m the kind of person who thrives on having a clear idea of how things are going to pan out, but of course our old friend life has a different way of presenting itself to us. The toddler’s chicken pox turned out to be much more of a game changer than we’d originally thought. His international trip with Jackie was cancelled. His part of the trip was, at least.
So, I’m dipping my toes into the realm of single parenting for a few weeks while Jackie tours Sweden and Germany. She has a family wedding to attend in the south of Germany, and a sudden chance to go inside a Taylor Swift concert in Stockholm. I personally don’t feel anywhere near ready to leave the farm for weeks on end, but this week has almost been as if I’d left the farm. It rained a lot, and I’m alone with a sick child. We’ve spent a lot of time in the house, I now have a much more clear idea of what life was like for single parents during lockdowns in a city. I feel isolated.
To be honest, the farm isn’t managable in these conditions. The chores are not all getting done, though I have been able to keep moving the flock through the paddocks. I walk around with the kid on my back, dismantling and reconstructing the electric fence each day. It takes much longer than it would have, and needs to happen later than it usually does, because he is sleeps later than dawn and I don’t want to wake him while he’s recovering.
Well, next week is looking better. We went to the doctor yesterday, and he has been given the all clear to return to school.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Olive Branch to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.