Our gardens were organic because we couldn't afford fertilizer or DDT. We used chicken manure, and picked the bugs off by hand. Kept us kids busy. All our eggs were free-range, our beef was grass-fed, our pigs ran the river swamp and were rounded up once a year to notch the new ones' ears. Chickens tasted like chicken. We grew and canned most of our fruit and vegetables. You could hunt anywhere in the woods and swamps without asking permission. We were expected to be respectful of all adults, and heaven help you if you got in trouble at school and they found out about it. The teacher or principal gave you licks for whatever sin you committed, and the parents gave you more for being an embarrassment to the family.
