Prickly Ash
Woodcocks (Timberdoodles)
With long sharp thorns and few leaves to hide them, Prickly Ash might be the worst shrub in my fields. Try walking through it.
I kept a path along the brook and fought it for years. Finally, resigned, I would walk around it. I hated it and planned ways to get rid of it. But, thanks to Aldo Leopold, I now picture Woodcock warming themselves in the sun under it—a safe place, comfortable and protective; a “good” part of the hill; a part depended on by many.
And thanks, again, to Leopold I see destructive insects as home builders and suppliers of food rather than wood dissectors and pests. So, too, I hope to see my neighbors differently now, all living within a common space. And the ones I don’t understand, they’re needed by someone.
I’ve become more comfortable now when I walk my fields and I praise and encourage and certainly admire Prickly Ash.