I love butternut squash! It grows almost wild in my garden because the seeds I put into my worm composting bin come up voluntarily every season. I have squash all over my garden and also in my flower beds. This summer Ralph, I name my squash plants, took over the flower bed. When I say take over, I mean, he grew everywhere, even outside the defines of the bed, over the pathways, down beside the house and into the patio. So I was about to pull him out when I saw not one but two about to mature squash. They had been hidden under the leaves. So I decided to see if he would grow when twined up into the dogwood tree.
The question is.....will squash grow in trees? I applied the ecological principle of interiority. Every living thing and every natural element has interiority, that is they are endowed by the Creator with both a sacredness and an integrity, a wisdom of their own. Would Ralph, as a squash plant, know how to grow in a tree?
After a month, I decided that yes, despite the fact a squash plant has not twining abilities, no small clinging tentacles to allow it to attach to a surface, with my help it would grow in the tree. So the one squash which I carefully nestled in the joint of two limbs matured, turned yellow and it was time to harvest. I reached for it, tried to lift it from it's nest only to find that it had grown into the limbs of the tree itself. The only way I can harvest Ralph's offspring is to cut it in half where it rests and take it out in pieces.
