My vegetable garden is near my pond. The tomato horned worm is similar to the catalpa worm. The fish will fight over them.

I mowed yards, picked up bottles, made pot holders and sold them to neighbors and delivered newspapers. I still like fried bologna!

My parents had a very small grocery store when I was a kid. Dad gave credit to anyone that asked and if they were on hard times he would usually tear up their bill especially if there were children involved. We had a big garden, chickens, some fruit trees and would raise a steer every year. My grandparents lived around the corner from our house and they had a garden, hot house and pecan trees. I mowed yards, cleaned up the store, swept hair from my Papaw's barber shop, kept the two Little league Baseball Diamonds mowed, maintained and setup. I bought my own lawn mower and gasoline. I bought my first bike on credit from the Western Auto Store in Athens...put half down and paid the rest off in a couple of months. My buddies and I fished as often as we could. We would swat grasshoppers with a limb, dig worms and seine minnows for bait. Cane poles only. When I turned nine Santa Claus brought me a Stevens single shot 410 and two boxes of shells for Christmas (my Dad traded a 22 rifle and some cash for it at the local hardware store). Our neighbor lady was dirt poor so I killed rabbits for her to fry...I skinned them and traded the pelts for 410 shells (although looking back I think Papaw probably paid for the shells). We ate what we raised, grew or caught. We did eat light bread occasionally and fried bologna was a stable. Dad would occasionally let me have an ice cold Dr. Pepper out of the cooler ( the old type that had ice cold water and you would snake them around until you could pull them straight up). A piece of rat (hoop) cheese and a couple soda crackers was my pay for keeping the store squared away. I have lived a very modest life...wouldn't trade it for the world and yes Mr. Bill we saved, scrounged and utilized everything.

rick

Too bad today's kids won't get to experience half of what we did...good and bad!

But, but, but they now have fortnite though
I see kiddos aged 28 living in daddy basement with no job playing that shiat till 7 am

I sold Grit, sold pop bottles,popped corn to sell to the men on the dead peck%% bench on the square, Shined shoes,mowed yards,cleaned bricks, picked peas and ford hooks. My wife made a bunch of our daughters clothes We ate what I killed.Like was said above if you wanted something, you worked for it,

Light bread / yes. Many times.
We cashed in coke bottles we would pick up. The big one gallon milk bottles were gold.
I've used a cast net for bait and dug worms.

Bar B Q'd baloney is better but I have eaten fried. Used to love a Kreck's red hot link on a bun.
What about rat cheese and hang down, big boy?

I don't like to post long OPs. That was not the end of the scrap iron story. We had a total of 35¢. My sister had the money while we were waiting on a culvert to catch a ride into town. She dropped the money into the muddy water. Rather than jump in the water we got fruit jars and dipped the ditch dry to recover the money.

Who doesn’t sell they’re scrap iron?

Me....I keep it behind the shop for projects...

SnakeWrangler is my freakin’ hero, in case y’all didn’t know. Doin’ things right

Snake wrangler keeps it real

I’m about ready for another gathering

If I ain't using it, it ain't staying.

When I’m done with a project, the short iron gets sold.

Anything I think might be usable I hang on to....

Our old deer lease the land lady had a lifetime of scrap laying behind the shop. They never hauled anything off. I swear the day she passed her son was out loading off scrap and hauling it off.

Growing up I mowed my grandmothers yard, picked up aluminum cans and pecans to be sold, and mowed the church cemetery. When I was about 9 years old I started working in a firework stand for one of my mom's friends. The next year my parents started running one. Did that for over 20 years and im damn glad we quit... it hit right in the worst time for deer season. I suppose it helped a lot when we were growing up, extra cash for me and my brother and for my parents as well. During fire works season I worked for one of our distributors, our stand was where the distributors tractor trailer loads were parked. We would load the cases off the 18 wheeler into stand operators trucks/trailers and a bunch onto a smaller box truck that he took around. Occasionally I would ride around with him all the stops along the way and unload as well.

like wives

Reminds me - I don't see scrap haulers on IH10 like I used to a few years ago. Must be due to the current price per pound. I'm sure someone on here knows.

Prices on scape iron fell off substantially from several years ago. Price on copper not quite so much. Still plenty of dopers out there looking for copper to steal.

Thanks for the heads up.

I don't remember much going to waste. That's the real difference I see compared to today.

Bill, did you ever eat lamb's quarters found along the roadside? Ever eat roastin ears?

We didn't have lamb where I grew up. I baited the gravel road for fried chicken. Ate field corn.

We have become a throw away society, fix nothing, have a problem throw it away and buy a new one.