Iron Skillets, Biscuits, Gravy . . .

A plate of opened biscuits, thick slices of tomatoes all spread with the white chicken gravy . . . not a better breakfast anywhere!  Skillets of crusty, golden cornbread to stuff in a big glass of buttermilk!  The best afternoon snack.  Picnics . . . everything laid out on a sheet or the like.  Pots of homegrown green beans cooked with a slab of fat back, platters of fried chicken (freshly killed and dressed), tomatoes to slice...and cakes and pies for all the family who could come.  

The men wore their dress pants, white shirts...Dad wore his straw hat  and polished white shoes.  Mom and the the women wore nice dresses. (Mom always polished her shoes before she went anywhere. ) I was about two; I wore a dress and a diaper.

Imagine growing all your vegetables and chickens and actually cooking from scratch!  Mom ordered flour and meal which came in sacks.  When the sacks were empty, she used the fabric to make her aprons, which she wore all the time.  When she needed to, she bought on credit at the general store down the road; however, she never ran up debt.

As the war escalated, the people were encouraged to grow "Victory Gardens."  Mom needed no prodding for that.  She always had the ground plowed; then she would hoe and rake and plant everything.  When her vegetables started to come in, she started canning.  There was also a grape arbor which soon became our grape jam.  The wooden shelves in the pantry were laden with Mom's canning . . . sufficient for the winter.

Ella Mariah was a beautiful woman to me.  She was my constant companion for twelve years, my caregiver, my best friend . . . my grandma, my mother.  I loved her.