Picking your food

Saturday, September 24, 2011

After I got married and lost my job there was a dark period in my life where all I wanted to do was sty home and feel sorry about myself and as a part of my pity party for one I stayed home and played Farmville all day.  A game played on facebook where a person gets to create their own farms and raise animals.  It’s just a video game but I got so hooked I would base my entire day on when I needed to be back to the computer to farm.  Today, Farmville has a whole new meaning for me.  Aunt Luz and her family have asked grandma and me to join them at their ranch to help with pick corn.  I wanted to laugh at the thought of me in my dress and heels picking corn in my COACH purse.  So we loaded up the truck and moved on over to the ranch.  When we get there I take one look at the field filled with corn and I can’t imagine finishing in one day.  Aunt Luz and her husband explain to me and their daughter-in-law how to tell if a corn is ready to be picked.  They give us a sack and tell us not to be back to the truck until we have filled up the sack.  Everyone picks a row and we start picking corn.  The husk on the corn is prickly and my hands are soon raw from picking the corn and after what seamed like all day, my sack is filled and I am ready to head back to the camp site.  I arrive to find everyone sucking corn, I was the last one to come in and I must empty my sack and start to clean the corn.  Aunt Luz also explains that we will get to eat some of the corn we just picked and that I should pick the best ones to enjoy.  After picking and shucking all the corn I am not sure I can look at it let alone eat it but when in Mexico I must do like the Mexicans do.  Uncle starts a small fire with some brush, the clay pot is filled with water and corn and before we knew it we were enjoying some of the tenderest corn I have ever eaten.  We ate it with salt, lemon and chilly, we enjoyed it with mayonnaise and cheese and we savored it plane.  Aunt Luz had also gotten up early in the morning to make “gorditas” for the day and we ate like kings and queens.  No utensils needed, we ate with our hands and liked our fingers to ensure not a drop of goodness was lost.  At the end of the night I hoped on the back of my aunts ATV and drove home with her at the handle bars.  I felt the cool breeze of the night and watched as we descended back into town.  We arrived at my grandmas where I fell into a deep sleep from exhaustion.  Tomorrow will be another day and I must rest to take it on.