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| Weeds AKA Pussy Willow |
Coming from my monoculture agricultural background, I called these plants all weeds. A weed is anything not planted and not supposed to be growing there. The fence row was full of weeds. Weeds grew among the crops. I can now demonstrate more specificity when referring to those plants. They are to be killed.
Through my years at Gorman, I came to know the identity of many of the plants growing there. The plants growing there are mostly perennial or annual growing back each year from the seed of the previous year. They are decidedly not a monoculture but rather a "multiculture". I may have coined that word but I think you can see the sense in which I am using it.
A multiculture is more robust in its survival and therefore a more secure food source.
Most of the cultures, groups of people, on Earth began as Hunter/Gathers. They later began to domesticate plants they liked. It was a much more efficient way to grow food as long as weather and other natural forces cooperated with the growth of that type of plant.
Another benefit of monoculture allows people to remain in one location rather than leading the nomadic life in search of food. I integrated this thinking from Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. We clearly enjoy a locational stability the Hunter/Gatherers did not. Who is to say which is better, certainly not I.
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