Field Notes Series | A Lesson From the Blackberries: tips on how to be a nuisance to those who seek to control you
by The Blackberries | written by Lauren
A few days ago, a farmer asked me to pull up a bunch of blackberry plants. It was challenging. I said to the blackberries, "if y'all have any lessons to teach me, I'm open to them."
And then these words filled my head, usually in snippets and concepts that cohered into sentences as I continued to pull. Their words have been edited lightly for clarity.
Spend time rooting when you can. Spend time spreading when you can. Some of you will have the opportunity to root more -- deeper, stronger. This is helpful. Some of you will have the opportunity to spread and grow more -- making use of any foothold you can find, creating new nodes of stability. This is helpful.
Be prickly, be thorny, be chaotic. But not too much. Hold onto the soil, but not too tightly. If you are too thorny and too rooted, people may be more tempted to bring in machines or chemicals. Make them think they can get you without those things.
Some of you will be well-positioned to take good shots, lucky shots: grazing the cheek, lodging a thorn in a sock, miraculously penetrating a double layer of gloves. Celebrate these moments. Most of you will not be well-positioned for this. That is okay.
Place yourselves in places you enjoy and thrive in. But don’t be afraid to get in crevices, cracks, and under logs. Consider placing yourself where it looks like you may have been planted intentionally. Most will be seen as infiltrators, but some might be missed by quick glances. See if you can create some extra habitat for ticks that will go after those who seek to control you. Knowing they will need to check themselves for ticks later will be in their minds. It hurts morale.
Force them to walk a dangerous path for themselves. Lots of stumbling blocks. It hurts morale.
When you can, provide housing or shelter or protection – for allies, ideas, and spirits.
When you can, provide gifts. Make your gifts nourishing, juicy, irresistible, delightful. Make a gift that grows more delectable in the hot, and more precious in the cold. Be generous with your gifts. Anyone who interacts will be changed – and wittingly or not, will further your cause. With good gifts, even those who would prefer you weren’t here might develop a soft spot for you.
Embrace entanglement. It strengthens and thickens the shelter and protection you are able to provide. And it also sows chaos and looks hard to “deal” with.” This hurts morale.
Tangle feet. Trip. Even once you’ve been uprooted. This hurts morale.
Though I "made progress," I know the blackberries won. I left feeling that blackberries might be unbeatable. And in a lot of ways, I like the world that way. (Though I must admit, for practical reasons, I'm sympathetic to the challenges of blackberries taking over places on your farm, too.)