OPINION: There are two ways to deal with poverty

My grandparents, still struggling with the effects of “reconstruction” had no money for lawns. Instead, they kept a hoe handy and if any sprig of grass appeared on their yard, they dug it up and threw it always. The yards around old farm homes contained nothing but a few wandering chickens.

There was a practical reason for this: pest control. If any pest, be it a bug, worm, lizard, or any other crawling creature started across that bare ground toward the house, a chicken was sure to eat it!

The chickens were welcome for other reasons. The provided eggs for breakfast and the main menu item when the preacher visited the house for dinner. They were also the source of another problem. They left their “droppings” all over the yard.

We never had to cut grass, but we did have to sweep the yard on a regular basis. That required a very stiff yard broom. To make a broom, we went out in the woods and found a dogwood tree that was growing in a shaded area so that it had long spindly limbs. Three of these limbs tied together with bailing wire made a good yard broom. But what about landscaping? There were gardens and fruit trees around the edges of the yard. And for color near the house, they would take an old tire, split it around the tread and pop it inside out. Grandmother would then fill that with woods dirt and chicken droppings and plant her flowers in it.

Now remember that rednecks never let any useful material go to waste.

The best thing about a bare yard is the space it left for kids to play marbles. We had three popular games involving marbles: pig eye, circle and rolly hole. The first two involved trying to knock marbles out of the circle or pig eye by hitting them with your favorite marble called the “shooter.” Rolly Hole was similar to putt-putt golf. We would shoot the marble from hole to hole around the yard to see who could complete the circuit with the fewest shots.

The naked yards were environmentally sound as well. We never sprayed dangerous pesticides in or around our homes. We never polluted the air with fumes from gas lawn mowers and we never disturbed our neighbors with all the noise. (That was probably not important sense the nearest neighbor was usually a half-mile away or more.)

There are two ways to deal with poverty. You can sit on a sofa and complain, or you can get out and use whatever is available to make a better life. And that includes dogwood limbs and chicken droppings!

Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His e-mail address is frank@frankgillispie.com. His website can be accessed at http://www.frankgillispie.com/gillispieonline.