
My Dad – Son of the Soil
My most frugal father helped lessen pollution. Riding a boneshaker bicycle meant less petrol emissions and more personal health. Employing hand tools equalled no petrol fumes.
A “Son of the Soil”. Vegetable peels, old paper, tea leaves and fruit cores were all dug into a compost to become Black Gold; a natural food for produce. Had Starbucks existed, Dad would have been the first in line to collect used coffee grounds. Fondly, he would have fed nitrogen loving plants. His hand never poured foul cancer causing, water polluting or ozone destroying chemicals.
Loathing anything chemical, he gardened organically long before it became the designer habit. Used washing up water, often along with a few pieces of cutlery were thrown over plants as natural insect repellents. An inexpensive, readily available, effective and natural repellent!
Instead of ingesting pesticides, we ate “organic” – everything from homegrown nuts to gooseberries to Jerusalem artichokes. A natural diet did not stop with feeding his family. Dad traipsed an icy path to feed foxes. The dears cut through farmers’ fields to eat Mum’s leftovers.
Hedgehogs, nature’s pest-gobblers, were encouraged by cutting a natural urchin path through hedges. The angels dined like gourmets on succulent slugs and tasty snails. Even rabbits nibbling tender lettuce were welcome; their droppings fed the soil. Dad abhorred myxoma virus use in Australia to eradicate exploding rabbit numbers. He hated the cruelty and the sheer waste of rabbit meat.
Having fought in WWII as a 16 year old Royal Marine, his mandate was “Waste not, Want not.” Growing up as a child of a penny pinching Brit and a Portuguese Mum who once held poverty’s hand, I was drummed in a worthy form of Reuse, Recycle and Reduce.
We all have choices. My choice is to try to leave the world a better place than I found it for my children and grandchildren. Thus I do not smoke, drive a car or use a petrol driven lawn mower, carefully choosing not to add to the sad polluted air. Dad’s legacy lives on because I and a grand daughter are compost loving non-chemical gardeners.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleWhat a different world this would be if everyone cared as much as your dad, Margarida. I don’t have a garden so I’m not able to grow my own food but I’ve never smoked and gave up driving almost 20 years ago so like to think I do something for the environment. I really enjoyed your story, there is so much more we all could do.
Thank you Miss Linda for your positive feedback on my story, a tribute to my father. As a true”son of the soil” Dad combined his organic gardening know-how with his WWII learnt frugality. Feeling emotional that tomorrow I am travelling from Texas to Coventry to sign sale papers on the house and garden I grew up in. The apple tree is still there which we scrumped from and I hid in when… Read more »
I can understand how very emotional tomorrow will be for you. The house must hold so many special memories but they will always be kept in your heart. ❤
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleMargarida, your dad was a very special person. No wonder you are so environmentally aware. He would be proud of you and all your writings and the way you clean up the beach and care about all living things. This is another great story.
Thanks for reading my story and your sweet compliments. My Dad being a WWII veteran was certainly one of a kind, one of a last breed of heroes. Personally I think we should all aim to be frugal- shop in charity stores, mend our clothes, work in allotment gardens, walk rather than drive. We have so many choices in improving air, earth, climate and ocean quality.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleDad was an excellent role model, but being a typical know-it-all, I never realized this until he was in his 90s and too asthmatic to do heavy labour. Gosh, when I think about it, he never hired a plumber, plasterer, painter, cementer, landscaper, Dad did it all himself! What a marvellous generation. Now I am in his Coventry, UK house having travelled from Texas armed with a bundle of Covid 19 papers,… Read more »
Margarida, this is a beautiful tribute to your Dad. Like Fuji said, your Dad was a very special person. I often think how ‘lazy’ we have become to mend and re-use things. It is just so much more convenient to throw away and get new things. The strange thing is, we didn’t grow up like this. When we were kids, our parents could fix almost anything. Yet, nowadays it seems people are… Read more »
Thanks Marianna- such a beautiful name- for your thought provoking comments. A television programme on reusing would be a great hit. I would love to know how to change a bicycle tyre, refurbish a second hand table, replace a pane of glass!
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleWow. Your father is great for doing all he can do for the good of the environment, Margarida. A snappy salute to him. And I know he is also proud of you for continuing his legacy and for sharing your stories for awareness or educating people about taking care of nature. It was such another nice story from you. Good job.
Your comments as always Lotchie are both well received and sweet. My father passed away in 2017, but I still talk about him in the present. Actually he was a gruff grumpy man, but now looking back, I wish to have known him better and heard more WWII stories. Presently, I am writing a War theme flash fiction about his adventures, Let us hope we all do our part to save the… Read more »
I can’t wait to read your new story, Margarida.
Yes, I agree.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleMargarida, your Dad sounds just like mine! Dad didn’t fight in the war, since he was in Divinity School for the duration of the years the United States was in the war. But he lived through the Depression, the War and all those truly frugal years. He raised all our vegetables and fruits, fed the “critters’, kept beehives and preached the three R’s along with spirituality. None of us was ever allowed… Read more »
You have spoken truly, Miss Julie. I too hope that our fathers’ frugal ways, will become the vogue again!
A beautiful tribute to your dad, Margarida. Be proud of this story, I’m sure he would be as well.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleThank you Melissa for your kind words. My Dad left school at 14 then entered WWII at 16, so he was not book or academically trained. However, he was smart with his hands. He built solid cupboards, dressers, shelves, laid concrete and mended almost anything.
Let’s hope that we move towards such frugality and know how to help save our planet.
Hello, Margarida. I’m glad to see and read this story of yours again. And yes. I always note this phrase. “We all have choices – we really have many choices to make the world a better place.
Thank you as always, Lotchie for reading my story and commenting again. As you say there are many choices to improve the world.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with Google