July 5, 2024
Merriam Webster dictionary defines a weed as “a plant that is not valued where it is growing.” Our sheep, pigs, and chickens would all unanimously agree that Bitter Dock is a weed that does not belong in their pasture. To them the only metric with which to measure something’s value is if that something is “edible” or “not edible.” To them if it’s not edible, it’s just taking up space. I understand their perspective – but personally, I don’t mind having Dock around. It thrives in soil that other more desirable plants cannot, so its presence in our pasture is indeed a bit insulting, but I admire it for its strong work ethic, and for ultimately what it represents.
While our pasture grasses have fibrous roots that do their best to glean water and nutrients from the first few inches of topsoil, Dock is like a professional miner searching for nutrients deep into our hard packed clay. It sends a long tap root down and breaks up the hardpan as it mines for minerals far below where our grasses could ever reach. Plants like Dock, and Comfrey, help the topsoil by mining the minerals, incorporating them into their own tissue and then leaving them behind in the upper layers of soil when they decompose. Plants with long tap roots also help the pasture by prying apart the otherwise impenetrable clay and creating channels which allow rainwater to seep down deeper into the soil.
During the Great Depression, Dock, which grew along roadsides in abundance, provided welcomed greens in an otherwise barren world. Its leaves were cooked like spinach and the seeds were ground into flour. So, if for no other reason, I like seeing our Bitter Dock standing tall and untouched in our pasture as a living reminder that my animals and I are so spoiled that we can afford to turn up our collective noses and snouts at it and move on to things better to eat.