Chopping Dragon Weeds

Daisy Peasblossom on Aug 6, 2009

Tags: childhood, dragon's teeth, fables, folk lore, Gardening, Greek legends, Missouri, training, weeds, work

During a recent (in fact on-going) project it came to me that some of my childhood experience had prepared me for sheer, dogged persistence.

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Chopping weeds with an old dull hoe
I’d chop and I’d chop
And Grandma would say to me,
Are you chopping corn
Instead of those weeds–

And sure enough, there it would be
A chopped down stalk instead of weeds.

It wasn’t the most exciting job
So I’d make up stories to help me along
Like Jason and the dragon seeds…
I was pretty sure those old guys
From Greece invented that one
While they were out chopping weeds.

Or that business about old Hercules
Oh, Aegean stables ain’t got nothin’ on these
Gardening in Missouri clay,
With a dull hoe chopping weeds.

I don’t think grandma had heard
Of tilth or mulch or organic care
Just pile on manure
Plow the soil in the spring

And then, all blamed summer long–
We’d be out there
Choppin’ all those crazy weeds!

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Comments (10)

Brenda Nelson on Aug 6, 2009
I love weeding, but it does suck when you accidentally pull out or weed the wrong thing!
Mark Gordon Brown on Aug 6, 2009
grandpas garden with the manure was probably better than any with chemicals. good poety
PR Mace on Aug 7, 2009
As a child I use to get in trouble because I would chop the plant and not the weed. I was put on pea picking duty. Great work.
ken bultman on Aug 7, 2009
Long-handled tools did as much damage to me as to the weeds. Try not to use them much anymore. Your recollection is quite accurate. Thank goodness for Roundup Ready seed.
Christine Ramsay on Aug 7, 2009
Nice work. I used to love helping my dad hack down the weeds each time we moved to a new house as a child.

Christine
Hazel Crowther on Aug 7, 2009
Ah memories. Thank you.
Milton H Peebles III on Aug 7, 2009
Liked the reference to the stables. This is good.

Take Care, DreamSweet and Let Your Heart Shine
~ milty
Ruby Hawk on Aug 7, 2009
Daisy, I love that one.I have chopped weeds out of the corn and cotton. I feel sure I chopped some of the stalks down instead of weeds.
George W Whitehead on Aug 9, 2009
A great, fun read, Daisy. When I first saw the title I thought that it was a discipline in Kung Fu!
Nicholas Kenney on Aug 12, 2009
I have to watch for Jan’s plants and flowers when I’m weed-whacking…I tend to hit them. She laughs but I feel really bad.
We have a tool that belonged to my grandma that we use to pull weeds with, it has a long wooden handle and the tip is metal shaped in a fork. It works great!

Chopping Dragon Weeds

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