these are rings from the stem of yesterday’s thistle. i told my husband, a little too casually it turned out, “hey, honey, can you cut me some disks from the stem of that massive thistle we brought home yesterday?” then i watched as he tried a chef’s knife, then a better chef’s knife, then a bread knife, then a kitchen shears, then a garden clipper, then a garden lopper, then an exacto blade, then a carpenter’s utility knife, then a hacksaw, and, finally, his beloved cordless circular saw, before we were finally able to cut disks from this tender looking piece of vegetation, without either shredding it, crushing it, or failing to penetrate it at all. i could see him eyeing his chainsaw… it was as informative a lesson as i can imagine in how this thistle managed to grow seven feet tall in one season, straight up out of lakeside earth.

field thistle stem

grass lake regional trail, saint paul, minnesota