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With the addition of the swimming pool, that summer, the mint was left on its own. My son didn't mow it and I didn't bother it. It did quite nicely. Mint, when it is cut frequently, grows tender little stems, which a weed eater cuts easily. Left alone, the stems become quite strong and spindly. With the addition of the pool, we began to use the patio, and next to it was this mess of straggly mint, and an adjoining bed of mint, and some mint growing out into the middle of the grass in the yard, and around the new deck of the swimming pool, and out toward the horse tables. "I really have to get that under control," I said. It tangled in the monofilament line of the weed eater, to where it was useless. I dug around the brick borders and treated the grass with weed-be-gone, hand-cut it into some order, and went for a swim.

I learned to keep it well trimmed each Spring and Summer, as it filled in every bare place and many not-bare places on the farm, over the years. We developed a taste for mint juleps, after a trip to Kentucky. I never planted any herbs in the adjoining, now-connected mint bed. I sold the place, after the kids were gone, and moved to town. A few years later, I ran into the new owner and asked how he was enjoying the old place.

"It's great. We love it. But that darned mint."

Learn more about this author, Will Kester.
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