ADMITTEDLY, A TIME EXISTED when I considered milkweeds to be, well, weeds. A weed, by definition, is an unwanted plant. And my farmer dad didn’t want milkweeds growing in his Redwood County soybean fields. So we—meaning me and my siblings—were instructed to eradicate milkweeds, cockle burrs and thistles while walking beans.
If the term “walking beans” is unfamiliar, it simply means walking between soybean rows to remove weeds either via pulling or hoeing, preferably yanking so as to assure root removal. This was a necessary, albeit unpleasant, task assigned to farm kids who labored and sweated under a hot summer sun. The reward was a clean field. And a grateful farmer father.
Occasionally, this job paid…if done for anyone other than Dad. One summer my cousin John hired my sister Lanae and I and two of our cousins to walk his beans. As the oldest among the four, I was the designated crew leader, quickly thrust into settling arguments between my two cousins. I decided then and there that I wasn’t management material.
But back to those milkweeds. Now, some 50+ years later, my opinion about milkweeds has changed. I no longer pull them. I plant them and then allow them to go to seed. And this year I have a bumper crop growing in my flowerbeds, much to my delight.
Milkweeds are the host plant for monarch butterfly larvae, the reason I grow this food source. I want to do my part to protect the monarch, today considered to be endangered. I’ve been rewarded with monarchs flitting among my phlox and other plants in my tangled mess of flower gardens.
The other evening, while walking in a local park, I watched two monarchs swooping and dancing in a pre-mating ritual. Their aerial acrobatics impressed me like a line of well-written poetry. In many ways, their performance was poetry. Beautiful. Creative. Mesmerizing. Connective in a way that touched my spirit.
If my farmer dad (gone 20 years) heard me describe monarchs in this context, he may just shake his head and wonder about that poet daughter of his. And he would wonder even more whether I learned anything from pulling milkweeds all those summers ago in his southwestern Minnesota soybean fields.
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FYI: You can learn about monarch butterflies and how you can help them, see caterpillars, then hike to look for monarchs during a 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday, August 19, program at the Nerstrand Big Woods State Park amphitheater. Minnesota Master Naturalist Katy Gillispie is leading the Friends of Nerstrand Big Woods State Park free “Monarchs and Milkweeds” event. A state park parking pass is required for entry to the park near Nerstrand.
© Copyright 2023 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
I love learning about the practice of ‘walking beans,’ I never knew about this. yes, things change over time through experience and exposure, and I’m happy you’re supporting the monarchs and their food source now, I do this now as well, but didn’t understand it earlier in life. your dad would probably be proud of you for supporting life, but probably surprised from a farmer’s perspective.
Mostly, beans are no longer walked as chemicals have replaced kids as a way to eradicate weeds from bean fields. Maybe there ought to be a return to walking beans. Much better for the land and environment.
and it sounds like a such a peaceful mediation, or am I just romanticizing it?
I will simply say that walking beans is hot, hard work under the prairie sun.
Ah, so not at all what I imagined
Nope!
Beautiful. Just beautiful.
Thank you, dearest friend.
As a fellow bean-walker, I find it very difficult not to eradicate milk weeds from my daughter’s urban garden. It takes all of my strength to leave them there. It’s almost harder than pulling those monsters out by the roots and getting sticky with their “milk.” That said, I admit that they smell heavenly when they are blossoming.
Oh, it took a bit of adjusting for me to not feel the same. And then I had to convince Randy that the milkweeds needed to stay in our flowerbeds. And he never walked beans. But he made up for it by picking way more rocks than me. Morrison County grows rocks as a crop, I think.
Good Morning Audrey,
I forwarded your sanctuary garden essay of a few mailings ago to my neighbor. Her granddaughter just lost her a 3 month old baby boy (who was healthy and happy one day and dead the next. The family’s been told it was strep throat that moved into meningitis).
The young parents (and whole family) are really truly grieving.
I am wondering if you would send an address for the sanctuary, or directions from I35. They live in South Minneapolis. Or, even a website they could go to to find the location. It would be much appreciated.
I so much appreciate your blog! I wish I could write so easily as you seem to do.
Nancy, I am deeply sorry for the sudden loss of your neighbor’s great grandson. That is beyond difficult. I am thankful you are there to support your friend.
Unfortunately, the Infants Remembered in Silence Sunflower Garden is no longer open as the flowers have mostly dried. But this will become an annual planting of the memorial garden, which your neighbor’s family can surely visit and benefit from. In the meantime, I would encourage them to contact IRIS. This organization reaches well beyond the Faribault region to a worldwide outreach. Here’s a link to the IRIS website: https://www.irisremembers.com/
Thank you for your kind words about my blog. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.
Great Post – loved the winged creatures among the garden! I am learning that weeds and even wasps have a purpose in a garden. Wasps will go after some insects that are garden destroyers. Weeds help insects grow and maybe just maybe not destroy something else you are trying to grow. It is a balancing act when it comes to gardening and growing a lush fauna and flora landscape. Happy Day – Enjoy 🙂
Indeed, a balancing act. I don’t know if I could be convinced that wasps hold value. We are having problems with ground bees. Maybe that’s the wrong name. But they have hug holes in our yard. We really don’t want to get stung or for anyone else to be stung. Eradication attempts have failed.
Ground nesting bees will go into hibernation in the cooler months and that is when you can fill the holes. They tend to nest in sparse grass areas with soil that they can shift easily to nest. Good to know if bees or wasps though. Ground wasps can be aggressive, especially if mowing or really disrupting the area.
I shared this info with Randy so he can fill the holes when the ground nesting bees hibernate. They are living in the part of our yard where a tree once grew, so rotting tree roots still after many decades. He mowed right over their entry hole yesterday with no problems.
Milkweed provides food for many butterfly species. So happy to know you are helping them to live.
Had to laugh about “walking beans”. Been there done that! Fun for the first 5mins then just hot miserable work for any farm kid tasked to accomplish by lunch or dinner.🙄 Other such tasks…rock picking, de tasseling corn, walking the plow lines…I could go on and on… not a wonder I have little empathy for generations of those who don’t have an idea what “hard work” really can be.
Of those items on your list, detasseling corn has to be the WORST job. Corn leaves slicing arms, dew running down arms, hot, sticky, humid…just plain miserable work all for $1.25/hour.
Amen!
Times change and that’s good, eh?! (Mostly good, anyway!)
Mostly good is a fitting qualifier.
My farmer dad would also be shaking his head! Some years ago now, a neighbor persuaded me to stop pulling milkweed from flower beds. We subsequently went into raising monarchs indoors, to help boost the survival rate here, just outside downtown Minneapolis. Now, when I pull a milkweed having sprung up in a most inconvenient location, I always check for eggs and caterpillars before discarding it.
That’s amazing, that you are not only keeping milkweeds in place but also now raising monarchs indoors. Thank you!
Beautiful post, in many ways. I have also come to appreciate milkweed although I don’t recall seeing much of it, if any, in Buckman.
Thank you, dear Vivian. So glad you’ve joined those of us who have come to appreciate milkweed. We had plenty growing in sw Minnesota. But then again you had way more rocks than us on your Morrison County childhood farm.
I appreciate the milkweed too. I don’t let it grow anywhere in my garden, but let some grow.
Thank you for appreciating milkweeds and understanding their value.
I meant to say I don’t let it all grow in my garden…I pull some up in specific places.
😉
Ah, that makes more sense. 🙂