Poems & lyrics celebrating Kansas Flint Hills land & people by Annie Wilson – the “Flint Hills Balladeer”
Sericea Lespedeza Blues It’s hard enough to say it – impossible to spell. But once your pasture has it, you’ll think you’ve gone to hell. The cattle, they don’t like it. You’ll wonder what you’re gonna do.
You’ll wish you never got those Sericea Lespedeza blues.
They brought it in from Asia.They thought it was the best. But now it’s a disaster – a giant eco-mess. They started an invasion it seems we never will undo.
We’ve got the lousy noxious Sericea Lespedeza blues.
When I found it in my pasture, my heart went through the floor. I knew if I had one plant, I’d have a hundred more. It’s crowding out my grasses. I don’t know what I’m gonna do.
I wish I never got these Sericea Lespedeza blues.
Burning in the fall, spot-spraying every plant, grazing goats and sheep – might give us a chance. The bugs don’t even like it; it’s resistant to diseases, too.
It’s really hard to fight those Sericea Lespedeza blues.
We maybe think we’ve killed one, but it makes a million seeds. So next year we may find an even bigger patch of weeds. The cattle never graze it; it’s even drought-resistant, too.
It’s really tough to have these Sericea Lespedeza blues.
You can’t try to ignore it, or just leave it alone. Or in a few short years, your pasture’s overgrown. You have to hunt and stop it. If not, it’s certain you will lose.
You’ll wish you never heard those Sericea Lespedeza blues.
Maybe someday we will learn to leave Mother Earth alone. Keep out exotic species; just let the natives grow. The kind of help we give her, poor Mother Nature cannot use.
I hope someday we kick these Sericea Lespedeza blues.
Contact Annie at: tallgrassexpress.com/ contact.
Hear this song for free at tallgrassexpress.com/ sericea-lespedeza-blues
