calling any one from missouri

[SueT]

Fleabane is in bloom. @OhZark Biddies can you share any folklore wisdom about this plant?

 

[chiknGeek]

Nice weather for sitting on the porch this weekend.

 

[jthornton]

Yes the mornings and evenings have been very nice to be outside.

JT

 

[jthornton]

A little video for everyone.

JT

 

[SueT]

Happy Memorial Day everyone—we were up at the Sheldon Cemetery putting flowers on old family graves. We saw a guy get out of his truck w 2 cans of beer. He walked over to a gravestone, set down one beer and drank the other. He left the full can there, threw the empty in the trash, and got in his truck and drove away. Our daughter went over and looked at the gravestone, it had dates that would be the age of the guy’s father.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Fleabane is in bloom. @OhZark Biddies can you share any folklore wisdom about this plant?
View attachment 3520231

I don’t know any folklore associated with it, but I remember a discussion between my granny and my mom on the proper way to use it to get rid of fleas.

My granny did not allow dogs in the house, she was raised to think that was low class peasant ways.

But growing up she lived next to a family that kept dogs inside, and she wasn’t allowed to play with those kids because they were flea ridden, even though they lined their mattress with fleabane and had hung dried bundles of it all over in the cabin, trying to get rid of the fleas.

According to my granny’s mother, these folks were filthy, simple minded fools, who weren’t raised well enough to keep the animals outside and didn’t even understand how to work the fleabane.

Apparently hanging fleabane and/or putting it in the mattress didn’t do a thing to run off the fleas, it was just the way you kept in case you needed it later.

Say for instance if in the middle of winter the husband brought in a mess of squirrels to be cleaned for dinner, and accidentally infested the cabin with fleas.

If that happened you’d let the fireplace burn down, gather the fleabane from the mattress and throw it on the coals to smolder, then gather the children and go to church… even if was Tuesday, because extra churchin’ never hurt nobody.

While you’re were cleansing your soul, the fleabane smoke would cleanse the cabin of the fleas. And as a bonus, if you put some sage on the fire too, then you’d run off any spooks or bad spirits that might have snuck in… although generally sage was done in the spring as part of spring cleaning.

 

[SueT]

I don’t know any folklore associated with it, but I remember a discussion between my granny and my mom on the proper way to use it to get rid of fleas.

My granny did not allow dogs in the house, she was raised to think that was low class peasant ways.

But growing up she lived next to a family that kept dogs inside, and she wasn’t allowed to play with those kids because they were flea ridden, even though they lined their mattress with fleabane and had hung dried bundles of it all over in the cabin, trying to get rid of the fleas.

According to my granny’s mother, these folks were filthy, simple minded fools, who weren’t raised well enough to keep the animals outside and didn’t even understand how to work the fleabane.

Apparently hanging fleabane and/or putting it in the mattress didn’t do a thing to run off the fleas, it was just the way you kept in case you needed it later.

Say for instance if in the middle of winter the husband brought in a mess of squirrels to be cleaned for dinner, and accidentally infested the cabin with fleas.

If that happened you’d let the fireplace burn down, gather the fleabane from the mattress and throw it on the coals to smolder, then gather the children and go to church… even if was Tuesday, because extra churchin’ never hurt nobody.

While you’re were cleansing your soul, the fleabane smoke would cleanse the cabin of the fleas. And as a bonus, if you put some sage on the fire too, then you’d run off any spooks or bad spirits that might have snuck in… although generally sage was done in the spring as part of spring cleaning.

I always love your stories! Thank you!!!!!

 

[SueT]

This big rat snake has been on patrol in the barn, and I saw him coming out of a crack in the foundation with a noticeable lump in his middle. I hope he’s eating rodents and not baby birds or our chicken eggs…I’m going to keep a closer eye on the coop because we are getting less eggs all of a sudden….

 

[jthornton]

I need a field mouse snake, I've tried everything I know to catch the little buggers and nothing works for me. They come in the chicken run at night and eat the bits of scratch left by the hens. Anyone have any ideas?

JT

 

[SueT]

I need a field mouse snake, I've tried everything I know to catch the little buggers and nothing works for me. They come in the chicken run at night and eat the bits of scratch left by the hens. Anyone have any ideas?

JT

Traps….