Lessons Learned from My Great Grandmother

Memories of simpler times, sun-kissed days spent beneath the shade of large, majestic pecan trees, and the sage advice of previous generations fill my head as I sit down to write this.

I want to tell you a story that is very dear to my heart today. It tells the tale of my great-grandmother, a unique person who impacted our family and way of life greatly over her 104 years on this planet.

I can still picture the scene like it was yesterday. It was a small, simple house my great grandfather built in the late 1920’s. There was a modest garden right behind the house, large pecan trees in the front, and cattle and crops in the surrounding pastures. Here, my great grandmother tended to her garden with loving care, coaxing vegetables from the earth with disciplined consistency.

I have fond memories of sitting on her weathered porch, shelling peas with the family. When we were able to spend the night, breakfast the next morning included eggs from the chickens that roamed the property. When the chickens weren’t able to lay eggs anymore, they became a meal for her and the family. For many years before that, my family enjoyed milk and beef from cattle raised on the land.

Reflecting on her remarkable longevity, I can’t help but marvel at the wisdom demonstrated in her way of life. She and my great grandfather tended the land and the livestock with great care. Unlike the industrialized farms that dominate our modern age, they raised a variety of plants and animals that worked holistically to nourish their family and the land. There were no pesticides, no herbicides, and no GMOs. Everything was organic before organic was a thing.

In this fast-paced world of highly processed foods, physical inactivity, and a massive lack of connection with the sources of the foods we eat, her story serves as a reminder of the too-often forgotten wisdom of our ancestors. They worked with nature, not against it. They ate foods that had a single ingredient, not the mix of additives and fillers we consume today. I would venture to say that her simple, sustainable lifestyle provided more abundant physical, mental, and spiritual health than what most of us experience today.

We hope to capture even a fraction of that wholesome vitality, returning to the basics that sustained generations past. As the sixth generation to enjoy that land, we’re humbled to continue the legacy forged by those who came before us.