Common Anchors
They rule the earth. But we usually do not see them. An underground topic.
I recently realized the importance of roots. While I was starting to plant our balcony meadow.
It is amazing how many different shapes they take. Sometimes they look like a little tree upside down, sometimes like a house with different rooms, and sometimes like some kind of pipes. Or a mixture of all these.
Some of them grow back when you cut them, some of them don’t. Some make a bush out of a twig (like roses or berry bushes). Others have the ability to regrow the entire plant when cut. I think grapevines work this way, but so do many common vegetables and lettuces.
Sometimes we dig them up and eat them – like beets. Then we recognize their value as part of our actual food. But their contribution to the supply of all that is edible goes much deeper. Unnoticed, underground, out of sight and out of attention.
Roots define our food. Without roots, there is no growth, no soil, and no planned distribution of plants from place to place.
Roots help create “fertile” soil by aerating and structuring it for other plants. They work with bacteria and fungi to make nutrients available for themselves or for plants/animals that are beneficial to them.
Roots maintain landscapes by holding soil or even rocks in place and connected.
When you look at it more closely – and perhaps from a different angle – you might say: Roots make us family with nature, because they connect everything from the deep down to the high up. And we are part of the whole.
Without roots, there is no growth, no soil, and no planned distribution of plants from place to place.
Side Notes:
- About our balcony meadow check the post [‘Boxed up for Good‘]
- When I looked up ‘roots’ I came across a wonderful documentation by the University of Minnesota (check [‘InfoByteSized‘] unter ‘roots’)
- About regrowing salads or vegetable from kitchen scraps, there is a broad variety of background available online. Amazing. Thank you all out there for your wonderful work!