When I was a little girl my Great-grandparents lived on a farm in Bells, TX located off of HWY 82. The house is located on the right of the highway, just pass the LionsClub Sign.

My grandparents had a large garden just to the right of the house. My grandmother would grow anything from cabbage and tomatos to corn and okra. Almost daily my grandmother would ask me to help her pick veggitables for dinner or lunch and it was a very big treat for me. I can remember sitting under the carport helping her shuck peas during the summer.

My grandmother would can "bread-n-butter pickles" from the cuccumbers and peachs from the peach tree. She also canned greenbeans, pickled okra and make jellies from the grapevines. One afternoon while my grandfather was out working, I decided that I would help my grandmother pick the veggitables for dinner and be a big help. So off I went! I went out and picked both rows of cabbage and I thought I was big! I ran to tell my grandmother and the look on her fast told me I was in trouble.

The only thing that she said to me was you've got to get them planted back before "Papa" gets home and you wont get into trouble. Off I went…… well needless to say, I didn't get it done. All I remember after seeing his red pickup was him telling me to go pick a switch. EWWWW! I hated that and never could figure out why I had to pick the switch that he was going to spank me with. Of course, I would always pick the smallest switch there was on the tree. I would be sent back several times before I finally picked the biggest one I could find. I always thought it would hurt the worst and it was not until I was an adult that I realized why he always sent me back.

I never went to the gardent and picked dinner for us again without my grandmother's persmission or her being along side of me. However, feeding the local livestock the okra is a completely different story…. See ya!

Alma Elizabeth Clark