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Those who discount the story of Jack and the Beanstalk as no more than a fairy tale, probably have never seen Aley “Ale” Jeffcoat’s towering beanstalks.

Although the stalks don’t grow into the clouds above his home in the Pike County community of Ansley, they do tower higher than man and ladder can reach.

“About 30 feet. The beanstalks reach ’bout 30 feet,” Jeffcoat said. “Maybe a little higher. I planted the rattlesnake pole beans, sprinkled them with a little 8-8-8 from the Co-op and they took off and produced and just kept producing. I had enough beans for me and anybody else that wanted any. I picked the beans up as far as I could reach. Then I climbed up the ladder and kept picking as far as I could. Then I just had to let the birds have them.”

God gives everyone a talent and He gave Jeffcoat the talent to garden – to grow big produce and exceptionally tall bean stalks.

“To garden and to love people. God gave me those talents and they go together,” Jeffcoat said. “If you love to garden and you love people – those are the ingredients that make a garden grow. Because what you grow, you will share. I don’t know of anybody that gardens that doesn’t like to share as much as they like to watch things grow.”

Homer Aley “Ale” Jeffcoat has long been known for his ability to produce fine vegetables in his backyard garden. However, Jeffcoat surprised even himself with the “magical” rattlesnake pole beans that grew taller than man and ladder could reach.

Pears hang in clusters from the tree in Jeffcoat’s back yard. In addition to a 14-vegetable garden, he also has blueberries, figs and pears and he finds a use for everything he grows – and many of those places are in a basket for a neighbor.

Jeffcoat grew up during the Great Depression when a backyard garden was a family’s meal ticket.

“Times were different back then,” he said. “If you wanted something to eat, you had to grow it. I guess that’s when I developed a love of gardening. Times were hard but we didn’t go hungry because we knew how to work and there was no place I’d rather work than in God’s garden.”

Jeffcoat’s thoughts drifted to Hard Times when nobody had anything much.

“I worked for the railroad and got paid 25 cents an hour,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

The dinner bell in Ale Jeffcoat’s backyard is more than 100 years old. He rings it now just to hear it “ding,” but in years past it was a call to dinner.

Jeffcoat said God’s grace got this country through the Depression and he continues to be amazed at what God can do.

“Why, I can go down to the Pike Farmers Co-op in Troy and buy a little ol’ sack of seeds for about 50 cents and grow enough turnips to feed the entire Ansley community,” he said. “God provides for us. He is the great gardener. I just add a little fertilizer and put water to it. He provides the seeds.”

“I’ve got a freezer full of good things to eat,” Jeffcoat said. “When winter comes along, all I’ve got to do is go to the freezer and I’ve got fresh vegetables.”

Jeffcoat has always enjoyed cooking and he said he does “a pretty good job in the kitchen.”

“I do all my own cooking and on Wednesday night I have the preacher and his family to come eat before our prayer meeting,” he said. “They’ve got the cutest little baby girl you’ve ever seen and I’m her baby sitter. Having her around makes me very happy.”

A little one in the house is reason enough to make anyone happy, but Jeffcoat’s cup is overflowing with happiness.

As soon as his feet hit the floor each morning, he begins to whistle a happy tune.

“I whistle all the time,” he said. “One day, I was in a store and a lady asked me why I was whistling and I told her because I was happy. You can’t be sad too long if you whistle. Have you ever seen anybody cry and whistle at the same time? Can’t do it. I’d rather whistle than cry, so that’s what I do.”

Whistling is a form of music and, if music is the universal language, then food is the universal equalizer.

When people sit down to the table, it often seems that the world just rights itself, Jeffcoat said.

“My mother was a good cook and she was always carrying food somewhere – to church dinners and homecomings, or to a house where there was a death, a new baby or where someone was sick,” he said. “You go somewhere carrying a basket of good food and you will be well received.”

There’s an old adage that says one is closer to God in a garden than anywhere on earth. The implication is a flower garden but Jeffcoat believes a vegetable garden puts a gardener in close touch with God and with his fellow man.

“You can’t have a garden and keep it to yourself,” he said. “I find happiness in my garden, in my family, my friends and in my church.”

Jeffcoat has lived all of his life within 12 miles of Troy. Over the years, as a forester and as a county commissioner, he has formed many friendships that have brought joy and pleasure to his life.

At age 87, Jeffcoat’s spring garden was a lavish one – with 14 different vegetables,

including cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, sweet corn, watermelons, butterbeans, peas, string beans, peppers, onions and turnips.

“People become a part of your life,” he said. “Take the people down at the Pike Farmers Co-op. They help me every way they know how, with buying seeds, fertilizer and pesticides. Without them helping me know what I need, I wouldn’t have a garden big enough to share and I certainly wouldn’t have had those beanstalks that grew as high as the sky. It takes more than one man to grow a garden.”

Jeffcoat has been a member of Ansley Baptist Church for 70 years and he is a member of the church choir.

“I don’t have any musical training,” he said. “I don’t know how to read music. Some of the notes have legs on them and I don’t know what the legs are supposed to do but I love to sing. There’s a lady at our church, Sherry, and she sings like an angel. She coached me on singing and now I can carry a tune enough to sing in the choir. I love to sing. Like whistling and gardening, it makes me happy.”

And, Jeffcoat’s favorite hymn?

“In the Garden,” he said, with a big smile. “In the Garden.”

Jaine Treadwell is a freelance writer from Brundidge.