grow, marvel, eat, laugh, persevere

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Muse Day - Watermelon and Worms

Nothing in the cry
of Cicadas suggests they
are about to die
-Basho

Understanding the value of worms


My father has always been a hustler
He's done some interesting things to make a quick buck
Once he bought a truckload of watermelons really cheap and
made us sell them on the side of the main road leading into our subdivision
I was a teenage girl - I nearly died from heat exhaustion and embarrassment
After a few hours, people started bringing the watermelons back
demanding refunds
they were all rotten



My favorite hustle was worm farming
Grow worms in something that looks like a shallow coffin to a child
split in half after they outgrow the coffin
repeat until you are rich
The funny thing about worm farms is that
when it rains they try to escape
The remedy for this is to shine flood lights on the coffins during the storm
I have no idea why this works - stupid worms
Ironically, my father never seemed to be around when it rained
Time after time my mother
cussing and running in her heavy house coat
hurried to shine bright lights on the worms
Until one day she became fed-up
the worms escaped into the dirt
Twenty-five years later the soil on Owen is rich
My roommate grew the best watermelon I've ever tasted there
because my father has always been a hustler


Be sure to visit Sweet Home and Garden Chicago where Carolyn Gail is hosting Garden Bloggers Muse Day

5 comments:

  1. Thanks, Gina, that was very
    a-musing ! Very witty, indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. He he!! You're dad sounds familiar!

    ReplyDelete
  3. great story gina, heard it a thousand times, but that one never gets old...and those were pretty awesome watermelons...even though i'm not going to let your dad's hustling ways take all the credit.:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. dear great watermelon grower (Shannon) all the hard work goes to you for that awesome watermelon. the worms were simply your assistants ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have discovered tiny worms in my honeydew melons. What are they and how do I get rid of them?

    ReplyDelete