The Power of Marigolds

When my husband and I bought our home we knew we wanted to plant a garden where we could make use of an awkward yard layout, teach our children to benefit of hard work, and have a variety of produce at our beckon call. Gardening was, and is still, a learning process. We began our efforts with the understanding that we needed to put seeds in the ground, water it, and weed the area but we soon found there was more to worry about. We started to see beetles eating all our vine crops before they were ready for us to pick. We were at a loss at how to evict our uninvited garden tenants without using chemicals. 

Fortunately, another aspect of our home ownership was the instant community of individuals that also desired to be gardeners. As friendships were built, we engaged in “yard talk”. Topics were covered from what plants worked for them, where the best prices were, and how hurdles were overcome. One neighbor mentioned to us that she planted marigold around her garden borders because they omit a smell that, while pleasing to humans, are drive away insects. The next year we bought flats of marigolds and hoped they did the trick to save our crops. We did not see our desired outcome and we wondered if we didn't plant our marigolds close enough together or if maybe marigolds did not have a super power like we were told.

This week in my farm literature I learned that there is a connection between farming and folklore—something I have never considered. The definition of folklore is “informal traditional culture” broken down further is the lore is “passed on…from person to person”. My neighbor was an informal resource, it was told orally, and the shared remedy has the potential to being passed gardener to gardener. Of the four main categories of folklore: “things we say, things we do, things we make, and things we believe”, the marigold folklore can also fall under three of them—my neighbor me about it, and we both planted marigolds because we believed in the power of the marigold. Thus, planting marigolds to repel bugs is indeed folklore. 

I feel it is also important to note that being termed folklore does not automatically mean the lore is false either. For me, the marigolds did not work. When I looked on www.snopes.com, a common resource for validating folklore, I found under the “Repel Tell” category that it is deemed false. However, being termed folklore does contribute to the understanding of farming. Farmers are confronted with problems that are unpredictable, out of their control, and they might go to lengths to overcome them—including home remedies. It also informs us that some farmers care about their final product not being tarnished with chemicals that can be harmful to the people that ingest their product. Finally, farming folklore highlights that there is a community within farming that are resources and means of support for farmers to go to when needed.

Sources:

Kinkead, J., Funda, E., and McNeill, L. "The Homestead Act of 1862." Farm: A Multimodal Reader.  Fountainhead Press, 2014. 235. Print.

Sutherland, B. (2010, January 1). Marigolds. Retrieved February 15, 2015, from http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/chiwonlee/plsc211/student papers/article10/Sutherland, Brian Lee/ 

Snopes.com: Mosquito Repel Lore. (2003, January 1). Retrieved February 15, 2015, from http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/skeeters.asp 

Unknown. (2011, January 1). Retrieved February 15, 2015, from http://www.vegedge.umn.edu/vegpest/cucs/squabug.htm