It'll grow on you

Kudzu or Skudzu as some of the old timers called it when I was a kid is something that I miss seeing since I left the South. I know that most everyone that I grew up with, was raised by, ever saw, heck I'm thinking that everyone who is from the same area as me hates Kudzu! They fear Kudzu! Don't even want to see it, don't even think about bringing it into my house!

I love Kudzu myself, but my Granny Cooper is another story, she once had a basket made from dried Kudzu vines, and at first she was reluctant to even bring it into her house, but she did and it wasn't long until she was in a panic trying to dispose of it since it had started sprouting leaves and shoots that would indeed turn into vines, it was like this basket was possessed coming back from the dead. I would have loved to have had it for myself, but one day it vanished from it's spot on the shelf to never be mentioned again. The Kudzu basket was replaced with a flower pot that had previously sat inside the basket.

Kudzu is a vine that was brought into the United States back in 1876 from Japan, later it was introduced to the Southern United States to help prevent soil erosion, especially after the Dust bowl days, it was also used as a high protein supplement for cattle to feed on.

Goat eating leaves (Photo Source)

Animals and livestock are useful tools today in helping to control kudzu, in some places you can even rent a bunch of goats to come in and work on the problem, but it will take more than once to kill it off because kudzu does grow that fast.

Kudzu has nearly overtaken some of the Southern States growing at a rate of about 12 inches or more per day under ideal conditions, yes folks one foot or better per day this vine can grow.

I have mentioned Kudzu many times in previous posts and I feel sure some of you may remember the tales I am telling you now, but for those who haven't heard of kudzu,  this vine seriously can cover everything in site if ignored. I remember helping my Granny cut Kudzu back from the edge of her garden, only to come back the next day to find new vines had crept in and completely covered the previously cleared ground.

Kudzu covering trees and vehicles

Most people I know see this vine as a nuisance, they work really hard to keep it cut back from their property, because it can completely cover anything that is ignored, like an abandoned house, cars, trees, actually anything in it's path in a short amount of time. This is why Kudzu is now considered an invasive plant.

Kudzu is fondly known as the mile a minute vine, or as the vine that ate the South, some have even claimed that kudzu will take root and grow on a concrete block with no dirt at all.

Kudzu using power lines to cross the road

Although I haven't seen this myself, I have seen a kudzu vine grow up a power pole guy wire, and then follow the power line across the street and then back down the opposite side to continue it's path of destruction.  It goes without saying that most people are creeped out by this vine, and rightly so.

But with me I view it as a beautiful part of my past, a reminder of home,  just a simple green vine with a purple flower, that even though it slowly covers abandoned properties, fields, cars, and houses, I still see it as part of my childhood.

I've told you the story before of when my cousin and I actually found ourselves in the midst of a bygone era so to say when we sort of fell into a property hidden underneath this vine.

My cousin Brian and I were picking blackberries and muscadines, when we found ourselves in a thick patch of blackberries, nice blackberries I tell you, big as basketballs...not really but they were nice ones, and after fighting our way through the vines we ended up in a batch of Kudzu, so we started kicking our way through the kudzu just to see where it would end up.

We should have known better because as fast as kudzu grows, if one of us had tripped then it would be possible that we would be completely surrounded by kudzu vines before you could get back onto your feet, wrapped up like a boa constrictor taking his prey...OK that wouldn't happen because kudzu doesn't move that fast, but it actually can with an active imagination.

The next thing we knew, Brian and I had walked into a green darkness, we were now walking underneath the kudzu. I felt like we were in another world. There was no sound other than our footsteps, it was like walking underneath a green canopy, in another world completely hidden underneath the kudzu vines draped throughout the tree limbs overhead.

Brian and I just kept walking, talking about how cool it was when we stumbled onto what looked like a driveway, I'm not sure if we had walked a mile or a few feet but what the heck, we turned left and followed the driveway.

Kudzu overtaking an abandoned house

At the end of the driveway there was an old grey looking clapboard house with a covered porch across the front, I swear that the rocking chair on that porch was moving backwards and forwards, I could almost hear it creaking. There was also an old Model T Ford pickup sitting right there next to the house, I still wonder what we had stumbled upon.

Brian and I looked at one another and back at the house, we again looked at one another and then at the Model T, back to each other and then at the rocking chair that was slowly moving back and forth on the porch. Then we did what any red blooded teenage boy would do in this situation...We both turned and ran as fast as we could through the vines back to the car and hightailed it out of there.

To this day I am not sure that I could find exactly where this little house buried in the kudzu is located, nor do Brian or I know exactly whatever happened to all of those fine blackberries that we had picked, because somewhere along the way they vanished.

If I had it to do over again I'd like to take a closer look at what we had found, but then again it may have been a good thing that we ran...