Disability and Weeds

Weed or What?

Like most everyone, we have undergone periods of  dis/ability.  We have both had a variety of surgeries and long recoveries just since we've been married (28 years last month).  I've had two knee surgeries, and shoulder surgery; Phil has had two shoulder surgeries, foot surgery and two back surgeries.  During each of these, there were things we could not do -- things that just didn't get done.

While waiting for my knee surgery, I would often sigh in dismay over my inability to work as much in the yard -- and grimace as I saw weeds coming up throughout my new lava rock walls beds.  Such was the case when I saw something that looked like a miniature stock of corn.  But since I was unable to "do" much about it I decided just to watch it grow -- wondering what it was.

One of the things I could do, however, was dive into a variety of books about gardening in Hawaii, and in so doing, I came across a reference to my WEED!!  As it turns out, it is not a weed at all, but a plant used as a food source and in folk medicine in many parts of the world.

"Jacob's Tears" is its name, and thoughout East Asia the seeds are dried and cooked as a form of grain.  In Japan another variety is used that is brown.  In Korea a tea is made from the "tears" and in Chinese cuisine the tears are cooked to create a sweetening liquid.  In Thailand tears are consumed in tea and with soy milk as well as with other traditional healing herbs.  Finally, members of various Cherokee Indians have used the tears as personal adornment -- with a folk story that includes how these plants grew up along the forced march and relocation of the Cherokee to Oklahoma -- known as the "Trail of Tears."  (summary from Wikipedia - Coix lacryma-jobi)

The plant in our yard is about four feet tall.  The blossoms are modest, but after the bloom, small tear shaped seeds develop; first they are green, then gradually turn grey, then white -- and finally black.  The plant book I was reading mentioned that the Hawaiian people have used them in their leis, so I have begun to collect them -- saving them in a lovely seed pod that was a gift from a friend.

Anyway, this little miracle plant grew while I was disabled and unable to pull it out.  Which, of course led me to more appreciate the forced pause from weeding that brought it to my attention.