I grew up in North Central Texas and East Texas, so I know a thing or two about heat and humidity.

 

I am a native of Euless, Texas. It was a small, truck stop town with a pharmacy, some churches, and a Safeway, tucked quietly away between Ft. Worth and Dallas. Rich green pastures that extended as far as the eye could see were punctuated only by the occasional sweeping highway interchange. My primary school years were spent wandering neighborhoods reminiscent of Beverly Cleary and the world of Henry Huggins, Beezus and Ramona Quimby, lay sheltered among giant oaks creating sprawling woodland pockets intertwined with swampy creek beds and meadows of cicada symphonies.

 

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I lived out my mid to late teens in East, Texas at a farm for disenchanted girls. It was there, in the deep, wet woods of New Boston, Texas, that I learned the work of a productive farm. I learned about waking up at dawn, growing food, keeping cows, chickens, and horses, and it is where back-breaking labor became part of my DNA. I still feel nourishment from the toil of that farming life.

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