Regarding Terry Pratchett on Gardening

As the weather is only now just thinking about cooperating and is being quite mopey about it – rain, rain rain – there is really not much to do except read a good book. And if you ever were to ask me what’s a good book to read, I would say it is not a book, but an author you should invest your time in.

I find that there is nothing more entertaining than sitting down with a Terry Pratchett book. For those of you who have discovered the satirical humor of Mr. Pratchett, you know what I am talking about. For those who have not, boy, are you missing out.

Right now, I am reading Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook, which is a peripheral addendum to the DiscWorld series by Mr. Pratchett. Nanny Ogg is a witch in the series and witches have a very particular notion about how the world works. In essence, they believe the world should work as they see fit.

In our world, we think that witches are involved with all sorts of things wild and green, but in DiscWorld, Nanny Ogg has this to say about witches and gardening:

And I say: the hell with it. Witches know about herbs, because that makes sense, and the good thing about most herbs is that they grow all by themselves. You just go for a walk with your eye to business and there they are (the really useful ones, anyway; the ones you mostly see growing in gardens are only useful for shoving up a chicken’s bottom). But witches don’t garden. Gardening involves digging in cold weather. Where’s the fun in that? And the rest of the time you’re mostly trying to kill something.

Yep, guess I am not a witch (though I think more than a few ex-boyfriends might object to that opinion). I’ll just be happy with being a plain old gardener reading books till the weather decides to cooperate.