Too Old To Cut The Mustard

I have heard this expression all of my life, Ernest Tubb, Buck Owens and several others have sung “Too old, too old, he's too old. To cut the mustard anymore” I have been doing some research (very little actually) to find an origin and basically it just points to a person who can’t perform a task, job or whatever to their potential or a person who is too old to do anything properly anymore, some of the definitions and opinions go deeper but here is how I see it and how it fits into my life.

Mustard weed is a plant we have growing all over the place here, it’s tough especially as it gets taller and our pasture is loaded down with it, this stuff is so tough the horses wont even eat it, I see the goats on the hill back behind us looking down and laughing as I am mowing and I wonder if they would eat this stuff? I think of the song “Too old, too old, he's too old. To cut the mustard anymore” every time I am out mowing because the majority of what I am mowing is mustard, so in a sense I am cutting the mustard. Out around the mailbox and some spots in the yard yep there it is more mustard and here I am out pulling it up by the roots which look big enough to be carrots sometimes, in the dry ground it seems like they will not come up too easy so here I go I whoop out my pocketknife and cut the root in half so I can dispose of the plant, I have just cut the mustard again, Cindy’s Dad and I went out and cleaned along the fence and the round pen out back, we had our “Shovels, Rakes, and Implements of Destruction” working the mustard weed over we spent all morning that day cutting the mustard.

 This morning I mowed about half of our property and have just got out of the shower so that I am no longer covered with dust and pollen from the mustard flowers, I am about worn out for now and tomorrow is another day to which I just may jump on the other half and take on the task of cutting more mustard.

I just want you to know that I am not too old to cut the mustard and with the proper tools you can cut the mustard for a long time, so go on out and get your shovel or hoe for the small jobs, jump on that tractor or grab the mower for the bigger jobs, and if you just want to prove to that youngster that spouts off that you are too old to cut the mustard, whoop out that pocket knife and snip one in half just because you can, you are never too old to cut the mustard, just smile and remember with age comes wisdom and you are smart enough to use whatever tool you need to cut the mustard.