Pots As Yard Art

Happy New Year!

You might not know of it, but there is a tradition in “these parts” of making a special New Year’s meal.  This meal is typically eaten at midday (“supper”) and is composed of black-eyed peas, “greens” and cornbread. The black-eyed peas are meant to bring you luck in the coming year. Collard greens are meant to bring you money.  Cornbread is included because it’s just plain tasty (and you never eat greens without cornbread!).

There is another tradition in the rural South of decorating the front yard with an old kettle… specifically a pot for making Brunswick Stew .

Bells Ferry Rd near I-75

I often wonder how the humble kettle came to be a landscape celebrity. Was it a purely utilitarian choice?  A broken pot can serve as a container for flowers or herbs by the kitchen door... even when it can’t hold stew or “pot likker” any more. 

Hurt Rd near Powder Springs Rd

Perhaps it was a question of effort.  A cast iron pot is mighty heavy. Modern mobile families (2 parents plus 2.5 children) no longer need a big family pot. It would have been a lot of work to haul the pot to the refuse pile... and the pot only got as far as the middle of the front yard.

Hurt Rd near Powder Springs Rd

I think, however, there may be a different answer. The cast iron pot, with its beautiful black roundness  touches our hearts. The pot squatting in our yard welcomes us home without obligation. We don’t have to be famous or wealthy or erudite - we’re home.

Friendship Church Rd near Casteel Rd 

The pot in our yard reminds us of meals past, where family and friends gathered around the table and something wonderful and delicious could be made from the simplest of ingredients. There may not have been much, but there was enough, and companions to share it with.

Friendship Church Rd near Casteel Rd

So, whether or not you have a pot in your yard, may your upcoming year feel as warm and welcome as if you did.