Re: Okay all my fellow backyard gardeners…..

junk yard tiger®

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Joined: 10/12/08

Apr 17, 2023, 7:54 PM

Well, I just turned 80. In 80 years, I have been a part of a garden. Growing up, from the day I was old enough to walk, I worked in a half acre garden. In the spring a neighbor would hook up his mule to an old wagon and come and plow our garden. He would only turn it, so we had to bust up all the clods and rake it halfway smooth and then lay off the rows using a 3 prong rake, hoe and maddock. I was about 6 years old and was using the 3 prong rake thingy and drove one of the tines through the area between my big toe and adjoining toe.

We planted maters, squash, cukes, onions, beets, taters, green beans, speckled butter beans, purple hull crowder peas, radishes, corn and lots more. Mom canned it all and we ate it during the winter. We didn't garden for fun. We were poor and gardened to eat. We hunted squirrels and rabbits. Ate them. Were no deer around in our neck of the woods and we couldn't afford to have a car, so we had no way to go very far away. We walked or rode a bicycle or hitched a ride every were we went. Picked blackberries, plums, grapes and any fruit we could get all summer and into fall. Mom canned it, made jam and jellies, and pies.

Raised our own chickens for eggs and to eat. Dad wrung the necks on Sat. and the chicken flopped all over the yard and then Mom put it in boiling water and plucked the feathers and cut it up. Chicken dinner on Sunday. We had a cow we used for milk. Dad bought it from a farmer about 5 miles away. We had no way to transport it to our place, so Dad walked it the 5 miles to our place. Slept in summer with all doors and windows open. Me and my brother slept on the screened in porch all summer. Froze to death in winter. Mom made quilts from scrap wool and we put about three each on bed. Could hardly turn over they were so heavy. Had one fireplace in living room and one fireplace in one bedroom. Two bedroom house and 5 kids. Fire went out after we went to bed. no heat during the night. Froze our ### off. Had a small cast iron cook stove in kitchen. Had an ice box and iceman delivered ice. Most of time we could not afford to buy it. Dad worked seven days a week and never took vacation or any sick days. He could not afford to miss work. Job had no benefits. No health insurance. Never went to doctors. Ate a lot of hamburger. Never knew there was any kind of beef other than hamburger. Only bought the essentials at the grocery store. No junk foods of any kind or soda pop. Koolaid.

I started working at age 12 mowing grass, delivering paper, anything to make some money. I got my driver's license when I was 13 years old. Lied about my age and told them I was 14. I was the only kid in the 7th grade with a driver's license. Dad wanted me to have my drivers license so I could help him drive on his delivery route. Started substitute driving school bus when I was 15. Full time driver at age 16.

How the hell I ever got into Clemson, I will never know. Grace of God. Worked all I could to help get me through. The only member of my family to ever go to college. My sisters and brothers all had very successful careers and fine families. Brother died a multi millionaire with a HS diploma. One sister was branch bank manager for large bank. Another sister was a data processing manager for large textile company. Another sister was secretary to a CEO at large mfg. company. All HS grads.

My mother lived to be 99 years and 11 months old. She died in the house I was born in and the house she had lived in for over 70 years. She was still gardening with a maddock and a hoe until she was 90 years old. She fell in the garden when she was 90 yoa and broke her wrist. We convinced her not to garden anymore. She wanted to live and die in her home and all of us children looked after her and made that possible. I lived out of state, but my wife and I came for a week at a time each month for Mom's last two years to help my siblings take care of her. She could still get around pretty good until her last 4 months.

I retired at the age of 55. I was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer 4 years ago and was given 6 months to live. Sold and gave away everything I had, and moved my wife and I into a continuing care retirement community in the upstate close to the cancer institute in Greenville. Prayed for a miracle and God delivered one with a treatment that cured me. Today I am cancer free.

I still plant maters, okra, and cukes here and have a good crop. Planting some veggies in the spring is in my DNA. As long as I am able, I will find a way to plant in the spring. Wife is a Clemson grad and she learned how to can from my mom. Wife helped plant garden every year and we gave most away to friends and neighbors. I have grown about any kind of veggie that will grow in North or South Carolina.

God is good. And He still answers prayers.