Nanaimo - 4 years later

A couple of days ago I ended up in the same Tim Hortons in Nanaimo that I spent the night in 4 years ago because of the highway closure. It wasn't open 24 hours anymore even though the ferry staff at the information booth and the taxi driver who took me there said it was. They kicked us out at midnight. The next one was "two traffic lights away". A complete stranger picked me up on the highway with my luggage and took me there after first checking a more distant one that wasn't open. He had just been paid and was a night owl acting quite chipper. After 4 years I still do not agree with the composting practices I see in most farms and gardens. Apparently a very effective teacher(s) has told Canadians that building the soil is more important than giving plants the most opportunity to live or serve as food. I do not agree. As an animal scientist first, compost is what animals reject. I think if a garden has too much of a non-weed plant then it should be sold, given away or put in a low-priority part of the garden to fend for itself. I just saw trays of microgreens and salad mixes being composted when they were still young. I rescued what I could and used them as landscaping and to suppress weeds. Their root structure was so tightly interwoven I thought they had a good chance of stopping the grass from growing. Another thing that still annoys me is over planting and then thinning as if the life of the plant being pulled out has no value. I think it is better to replant to fill spaces that open up due to deaths of plants. Before I started visiting all of these farms I agreed with farmers that there were too many food safety regulations. I don't agree with farmers about this anymore. But I also don't mind if they go underground rather than follow the meat regulations. Lastly I do love gardens, but I like the soil and the mess to stay outside. Someone should design a water-based boot/shoe cleaning system for small farms and gardens that sits outside the main entrance. Someone else should design a solar powered robot that could be designed to recognize and pull out weeds, and another one that picks up animal poop, that also uses the poop as energy.