In this age of a pandemic, I think everyone has had their mind on self-reliance at some point or another. In our farm life, I think it continues to be on my mind as the years roll by.

I grew up helping my dad with cattle, we had a garden and my mom is a great cook. We were blessed to have beef in our freezer more often than not. We grew a variety of things in the garden. Some vegetables were eaten when ready, some were frozen, some were canned. We also had cherry trees. We watched eagerly as the cherries came on each summer and knew the birds were watching too. I remember tying strips of silver mylar or hanging aluminum pie plates in the trees to scare the birds away until we could get all the cherries we wanted. Those pie cherries made the best pies. All others pale in comparison.

I really didn’t know any other way. As I grew up and found out people thought food came from the grocery, I was surprised. As an FFA member, I remember going to the local elementary school and teaching the kids about where food really came from. As a teacher, I have always tried to work into the curriculum about farms and where food is grown. I made a promise to an older lady in the community that I would teach kids about agriculture and I have done my best to do so.

As I said, my mom is a great cook. She can make meals out of most anything and it always tastes good. She is the kind of cook who knows how to throw ingredients together and does not really follow a recipe. While I don’t have quite the gift of my mom’s cooking, I do a pretty good job. It really is nice to know how to provide meals for my family that are homemade or nearly so. On of my favorite things my younger son said one time was, “I didn’t know what you would make for dinner. All I saw was ingredients!”