Flame Weeding & Vergilian Weed Management
Flame weeding is pretty much what it sounds like: you strap a propane tank to your back and use what is essentially a flame thrower to kill the weeds sprouting in a bed. It brings an element of Mad Max: Fury Road to what is otherwise a rather pacific morning--planting and weeding. Basically what organic farming looks like. No joke. Image from: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/zoe-kravitz-wives-mad-max-fury-road-article-1.2213982 While the technology has certainly changed, the practice has its roots (pun intended) in ancient agriculture. In the Georgics , Vergil recommends: saepe etiam sterilis incendere profuit agros atque levem stipulam crepitantibus urere flammis: sive inde occultas viris et pabula terrae pinguia concipiunt, sive illis omne per ignem excoquitur vitium atque exsudat inutilis umor, seu pluris calor ille vias et caeca relaxat spiramenta, novas veniat qua sucus in herbas, ...
