The one thing that the South doesn't lack is flies or any other insect. While today, you don't commonly see fly swatters hanging in the kitchen, like you did back before we all lived in such climate controlled air conditioned houses -- flys don't quite make today's list of the "I hates" like other insects. That's because they aren't in the house as much, and we're not swatting them constantly like we were before.

Grama didn't want in flies in her pies and neither did I. Shooing flies was the job assigned my little brother on baking day by my grandmother. He got paid a bounty, usually in the form of food or pennies, for every one he killed.

He never quite got up to common house fly #7777, but I seem to remember the number -- 25 in one day. That day, he was rich enough to buy a comic book, or get a tummy ache from eating that many cookies.

Now, our father and grama liked to argue, tease and torment each other. Daddy had taught us kids to sing the chorus of the song (yes, there is a song) -- Shoofly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy.

This song was popular in the late 1940s, and sun by artists, like Dinah Shore, but originally recorded by June Christy and Stan Kenton, along with his orchestra. The song was written by Guy Wood (a relative of mine), and curiously is now owned by Paul McCartney's company.

My little brother would run around chasing the flies and bellowing at the top of his lungs.....Shoofly pie and apple pan dowdy...Makes your eyes light up, and your tummy say howdy!....And, I'd chime in with the .....I never get enough! It's a wonder she didn't use the flyswatter on us.

One of Grama's favorite pies to make, was what she called Molasses Necessity Pie, but my dad called it Shoofly Pie. She claimed that the pie was thought up, because it didn't require many ingredients, and in times of necessity (poverty) it made a good and cheap dessert.

This old-timey pie recipe was and still is commonly served in Louisiana, and other parts of the South. Additionally, it is a specialty pie of Amish families in Pennsylvania. You'll also often find Amish cookbooks with a recipe or two for it.

Ingredients:

• 1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches)
• 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup boiling water

Pie Instructions:

• First line the pastry shell with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil.
• Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.
• Remove foil; brush crust with egg yolk.
• Bake 5 minutes longer; cool on a wire rack.
• While shell is cooling combine brown sugar, molasses, egg, flour and baking soda in a medium bowl.
• Gradually add boiling water.
• Cool to room temperature
• Pour into prepared crust and set aside

Topping Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Dash salt
• 7 tablespoons cold butter
• 1/3 cup cinnamon

Topping Instructions:

• Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
• Cut in butter until crumbly.
• Sprinkle over filling.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until golden brown and filling is set. Cool on a wire rack.

Note: This is a refrigerated pie and must be kept in the refrigerator.

The most popular kind of Shoofly pie is perhaps, the wet bottom pie version. Wet bottom refers to the fact that the sweet sticky molasses lays beneath a crumb topping, similar to a coffee cake.

Shoofly pie can also be made as a dry bottom pie, meaning that the molasses is more thoroughly mixed into the pie filling -- thus, creating a more cake like pie.

Chess pie is an old pie, and I can't help but wonder if Shoofly pie evolved from it, rather than the other way around.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup nuts (usually pecans)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon black walnut extract

Instructions:

• Cream the butter and sugar
• Add yolks of the eggs well beaten
• Add milk, raisins, and nuts
• Mix well
• Add last of the well beaten egg white
• Add walnut extract
• Pour into pie crust
• Bake at 350 degree oven until knife comes out clean when inserted

Serve with whipped cream on top.

Additionally, the story goes, that the pie was so sweet that flies were attracted to it, but I recall the pests being attracted to anything and everything. The common house fly was such an insect pest -- that it was widely taught that it was a major cause of diseases (which indeed it can be). Here's one such state educational film that's fairly interesting to watch.

Warning: I don't advise eating your pie while you're watching it!

A common house fly could be described as a flying sponge with a mouth. These dark gray flies can only eat things that are liquid. However, don't be fooled, because they can liquefy foods with their spit. The process of liquefying foods comes from the fly's ability to throw-up solid foods in order to sponge up the liquid and digest it.

Generally, the life span of a common house fly is from ten to twenty-one days. They lay so many eggs that one housefly can be responsible for creating twelve successive generations in just one year. Of course, most of us know that the house fly carries diseases. It's responsible for the spread of typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, anthrax, meningitis, food poisoning, and a host of other diseases.

The diseases flies spread, aren't limited to mankind. They also spread diseases and parasites to other animals. Flies routinely feed on decaying matter, feces, and can have a ½ billion bacteria on the outside of their bodies. Every time a fly lands on something, some of these microbes of bacteria fall off onto anything the fly touches

Flies are great fly watchers, meaning they keep an eye on each other. Just like birds, when one fly finds food, all the other flies join in for the meal, invited or not. Most of us would be surprised to learn that because we use so many insecticides here in the U.S. -- the common housefly has become resistant to insecticides that used to kill them. The best way to get rid of flies is to practice good sanitation. If you have a fly problem, use safe non-chemical fly traps, or other safe environmentally insecticides on the market.

There are some common sense approaches to keeping flies outside, instead of inside your house, these are:

• Because they are drawn to light, if you place outdoor lighting slightly away from entrances you will have a better chance of keeping them outdoors.
• Also, use sodium vapor lights whenever you have light fixtures that are near doors, as flies are less attracted to them.
• Make sure you keep trash out and away from the house.
• Make sure you empty the trash regularly to keep flies from discovering this food source.