Aldi’s Is Growing Hot Dogs Behind Their Lawton Store

Have you ever experienced a moment where you were driving around, your kids spot something, and they end up having the funniest commentary on what they think they saw? This is sort of one of those times, except Critter was driving, I'm the kid in this case, and instead of saying something funny, it's at best an exasperation of air through your one working nostril.

Welcome to Aldi's in Lawton. If you've never shopped there, I won't tell you that you should. You're an adult, shop where you decide to. That being said, I like to occasionally go in there based on what they have on sale and pretty much anytime they are selling their chisels.

Seriously, you wouldn't think a six-dollar set of grocery store chisels were very good, but they are terrific. Flatten and sharpen easily, keep an edge for a good long time. 10/10, and with that, I'm already off-topic.

If you've ever opted to enter or exit Aldi's from the rear entrance, you may or may not have noticed the attractive little ecosystem they've got growing back there. I can't remember ever seeing the grassy areas looking like they needed a mow, and the stuff they let grow wild makes for a neat sight you don't see often inside city limits.

Aldi's has a veritable farm of cattails.

Of course, being the older millennial I am, I was raised on things like hand-drawn cartoons and an MTV that actually showed music videos twenty-four-seven. VH1 did too at some point, but only old people watched it unless it was Behind The Music night. Those were glorious days. Since you now have that little nugget of backstory, this next bit will make sense.

Every time I see cattails, I can't help but think about Pee-Wee Herman's wiener tree from Big Top Pee-Wee. The (should-have-been) Academy Award Nominated second installment of Pee-Wee Herman feature-length films.

In that movie, Pee-Wee spent his time now living on a farm where he diced and spliced a new cultivar that grew wieners. It was his prized possession until some pretty-eyed French acrobat lady showed up with her circus in need of help. Seriously, watch it as an adult. It's far more hilarious than it was when you were younger.

Even though they don't look identical, I cannot unsee the wiener tree when I spot cattails.

The reason it's sort of awesome these are growing inside city limits is, cattails are a tell-tale sign of a healthy and balanced ecosystem... meaning Aldi's is most likely running a really clean operation seeing as their drainage finds a home in that rear ditch area.

Even more surprising, that area holds enough moisture to support such life. Now I know this past summer was decently wet, even with the September dry spell, but it seems like these plants have just flourished all year long.

Fun-Fact: If you can convince one of your younger cousins or siblings to bite a cattail, the reward is all yours and instantaneous. You can also swordfight and joust with them to a certain extent. Either/or, they still explode into millions of really soft, gets-everywhere type of seeds. I don't say that so you can go walking through Aldi's wetlands to brutally harvest your own, but if you spot them in the wild, you'll know what to do with them.

Also, because what is some random story of mine without more fun facts than you know what to do with, the humble cattail is 100% edible from root to hot dog... but I will warn you, while the taste is a pleasing nutty flavor, the texture is on par with putting a few cotton balls in your mouth. They're really dry.