[markoman]

....had been allowed to turn into “thistles and nettles”...

The horror.

Marko

[Noumenon]

Is there anything government can’t do?

[bert]

——“thistles and nettles”——

In the overall ecology of a specific location, the botanical end state is the climax forest.

for a well tended pasture, the presence of “thistles and nettles” is in fact the first stage of the ecological succession to the climax forest.

For the land in question, the battle against ecological succession has apparently been in progress for 1100 years. Thus, Thistles and Nettles are to be opposed and eradicated