Where is the machete when you need it?

My garden is in a state of flux. We have vines hanging above the seven foot tall tepees with their Blue Lake pole beans and cucumber vines on the other side of the garden growing more than seven feet high. It is an amazing sight.

We walk and work very carefully in the garden now because we don't want to disturb the growing process. We are considering removing the plants that are starting to reach their end and deciding what to replace them with.

We have mercifully put the Pink Brandywines out of their misery without one edible tomato and we have cut one box of squash plants out. However, the roots are magnificent and exceptionally large.

When I tried to pull the roots out of the box, all I could think of is where is a machete when you need one? If you are uninformed of what a machete (think of the name with a Spanish accent) is, it is the kind of knife that is used to cut sugar cane. It is a large, sharp blade and it can be as long as about three feet.

I have seen sugar cane cut and I have seen Agave plants cut and the process is similar. The outer leaves are cut off and either the large cane or main bulb are removed from the root system.

Both of these fine plants give some of the great booze of the world. Agave (Blue is preferred) juice becomes Tequila and sugar cane becomes Rum. Sugar cane helped develop the Caribbean islands, and some of the hot, muggy south like Louisiana. Sugar cane can be made into molasses and later refining gives us sugar and Rum.

It makes you understand how the Southern portion of the United States played such an important part in the growth of the country. We provide a great deal of fun with our beautiful beaches and majestic mountains, food from the vast farming that the region provides, and various kinds of great alcoholic beverages that come from Southern liquors (Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, and Rum-just to mention a few).

I am a Southerner through and through. Get my Pawleys Island hammock ready and mix me that exquisite drink called a rum and Coke. Southerner by birth and the grace of G-d.