Compromise

In the late summer get a bit nervous when I see yellow flowers around the horses' fields in case they are from ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris) an increasing danger apparently.

Like several plants, it is poisonous for the horses but unlike for instance the buttercup, it retains the poisons when it is dried and ends up in hay.

However this patch of yellow was harmless and very pretty, It was full of honey bees and probably ours. It's a small patch alongside a hut which although it gets mowed relatively often, it doesn't get covered with slurry and so wild flowers have a chance to grow.

It's a difficult balance. Just a few yards from here there is a large piece of ground which also doesn't get any slurry but it also never gets mowed, resulting in a thick, unsightly tall patch of weeds.

How to find a compromise between wanting cheap milk and having a pretty, ecologically sound countryside? But in these troubled days in the Middle East, there are more important and very poisoned things needing "compromise" just at the moment.