The Donkey's Dinner Problem

One famous Hodja tale involves him feeding his donkey less and less each day to train it to live without food—until it dies, leaving him lamenting wasted effort. Applied to plants, this becomes a meditation on automation and ritual divorced from observation. We water on schedules, fertilize by formula, prune according to rules learned decades ago—yet never ask if this particular plant, in this particular season, needs what we're doing. The examined relationship with plants means catching ourselves mid-ritual: Why am I doing this? Is this serving the plant or merely my sense of control? Hodja's dark humor teaches that good intentions taken to absurdity become destructive. When we examine our plant practices for hidden pointlessness—the routines we maintain long after their purpose faded—we free ourselves and our plants from thoughtless obligation.