Fearless Faith

It is that time of year when certain invasive weeds betray themselves upon blooming. One such species is the nodding thistle, or musk thistle. A combination of rain and warmer weather has encouraged the biennial to shoot up above the summer grasses in open defiance of clean pastures everywhere.

This is no timid interloper. It is hard to uproot or cut off by hand and a single plant can produce tens of thousands of seeds annually. Its seeds can also remain viable for a dozen years or more. The best practice for small areas of affected pasture is mechanical control, cutting off the blooms and see...