The Red Queen Theory Revised

One of my favorite evolutionary theories is the "Red Queen Theory". This was an evolutionary theory proposed in 1973 by Leigh Van Valen (great name), in which he realized that, "For an evolutionary system, continuing development is needed just in order to maintain its fitness relative to the systems it is co-evolving with". The title of the theory comes from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass when the Red Queen said, "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

The last few days on the farm The Red Queen has been breathing down my neck. I try very hard to feel the farm vibe and tend to things as they come up, but lately I am feeling as though the competitors are co-evolving faster than me! I just got a handle on sap beetles attacking the Cascade Berries, when I discovered that the Buckley Giant apple in the orchard is suffering from "Bitter Pit".

Even just the name "bitter pit" eludes to how one feels after you see more than half the apples on a tree fail the grade for market. The thing that slayed me was that one of the causes for bitter pit is vigorous pruning the year before, which I had no control over and only learned about after I fantastically pruned the tree again this year. And oh yeah, I am only talking about one tree in the orchard, remember the mention a few posts ago about the 71 trees we have?

Here is where the running as fast as I can part comes in. I know that we have more apples than we all will know what to do with, it is just so hard to "lose" a tree, or miss a needed picking of berries to keep ahead of the pest, or to catch that zucchini and pick it before it becomes the size of a baseball bat. My struggle today is letting go of the expectation of perfection. Maybe tomorrow I will make applesauce, jam, and zucchini bread with my "rejects".