Growing up in NW Arkansas on a 360 Acre farm provided 5 kids with plenty of land to run around on. The Ozarks is an area of rolling hills, small mountains, lakes, streams, caves and cool stuff like wild Plums, Muskadine Grapes, Persimmons, and Hickory Nuts. We loved to explore the old abandoned homesteads, weathering farm implements, and natural cold springs while searching for animals, birds, reptiles and every sort of living creature we could find. As we grew older, it was common for us to hunt Squirrels and Rabbits and to have Mom cook them for our supper table, as we lived rather meager lives. We never had much money but we did raise most all our food supplies on that land.
The one thing I remember the most; the single most things that stand out in my mind were the biting insects; the Ticks and Chiggers. We hated those critters with a passion! The Seed Ticks were a serious infringement upon our comfort! It was very common to brush our leg against a single blade of grass and be set upon by a few hundred Seed Ticks in a bunch! The ticks would attach themselves together in a big ball and transfer themselves in unison from the grass to our leg as we brushed by. At that point, they would begin crawling in all directions to find themselves a place to dig in and start feeding!
Someone told us about a certain plant, a “magic weed” that grew on our property in a certain location that was great at repelling insects. Once we learned that, we would make that our first stop on the way to hunting or exploring. The plant was a certain style, one we could recognize if it was to grow anywhere else. But, it didn’t seem to grow anywhere else than down the hill from our house, next to the big Oak Tree, not far from the Barn.
We would pluck some of the leaves, crush them in our hands, and then rub that on our pants and all over us. We used to “test” the leaves by brushing against a glob of Seed Ticks and letting them get on our pants. They would immediately crawl off and drop off our pants very quickly. Large Ticks would do the same. With this “poultice” on us, we never concerned ourselves with Chiggers, as well. Chiggers are small, tiny pin-prick-size of a red colored critter that loved to suck blood like the ticks! These things were so tiny that you could barely see them if you had GOOD eyes! They lived in the grass and loved to bite. They would itch us like crazy!! So we were never able to lie around in the grass and relax, or wrestle with each other, or pick the sweet, juicy Blackberries without ending up with a few dozen itchy bumps.
Over the years I’ve often thought about that “magic weed” and how it was a naturally effective insect repellant. We have long since moved away from the old homestead. The new owner built a Turkey raising empire on the old place. Turkey’s tend to pick the vegetation clean, as so many are raised in such a small enclosure. I don’t know if they have picked the ground clean around that old Oak Tree, but I’m certain so much has changed with the land; trees have died off, new ones sprout up and take over in a few years and alter the land so much that this old guy would never be able to go back to find the “magic weed”. Perhaps a marketing fortune awaits a young entrepreneur who, someday, discovers the secret of the “magic weed”.
I do remember those days. Do you remember the old abandoned sawmill on the homeplace we used to dig around in and run and jump on the sawdust pile? I learned to hate seed ticks and chiggers. Never will forget the time after we moved to Emporia and went back to camp out at the Big Rock and was covered with seed tick bites from toe to neck. We all had them. I can remember rubbing alcohol to help relieve the itch. Most of the land has been cleared of trees to allow for turkey and chicken raising. If you ever go back for a visit take a close pin for your nose as the smell is nose pinching.
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