Milkweed fluff

Here’s another history lesson, courtesy of my Aunt Joyce, dad’s sister. She sends these out at random to her kids and me, I guess whenever the mood strikes.

“During the (World War II) war years when I was in school we would get let out on some fall afternoons, taken by bus out to various areas and we picked bags full of the ripe milk weed pods for use for our airmen and navy life vests. I always disliked doing it as I was afraid of running into snakes.

“On weekends we’d go down across the pasture to some low swampy areas where there were milkweed and pick them and take them to school on Monday by bags-ful on the bus. Most families would have a bag to take as that was just the thing to do.

“Our proudest thing was to each take 10 cents to school on Mondays and buy a war bond stamp from the teacher who carefully put it in our war bond book, and when this was full it was taken home. The government used this money to fund the war effort. I still have a few of the stamps. 10 cents in those days was a big deal. Also had 25 cent stamps but we never got those.”

As confirmed by http://factoidz.com:

"Milkweed fluff was used by the military during World War II. The buoyant milkweed fluff was needed to fill life jackets and for use to line the jackets and outerwear of the U.S. Air Force. Schoolchildren would gather the milkweed pods and the pods from all over were sent to be processed at a central location for the Armed Forces. The natural buoyancy of the silken milkweed fibers made ideal filler material for these life vests. Lightweight and very buoyant, just several pounds of milkweed fibers provide enough buoyancy to keep a man afloat."

Who'd have thunk it?

So last night I had to take some pictures of the milkweed in the fenceline along the hay field north of the house. This is the "real" wild milkweed, not the domesticated plants you can buy at garden centers (I have those, too). Thanks to all the dry weather we've had, the pods have burst open and the fluff is blowing all over.