EVANS FARM
Since today is Valentines and the 1st Anniversary of "Where I Come From", I wanted to give you a look into one of my fondest memories growing up.
When my parents divorced, my dad, sister and I moved in with my great-grandparents. They had a small farm located in Bells, TX. The farm was located on HWY 82 in Bells,TX. However, since they have built a new HWY82, they have now changed it to HWY 56. The farm is can be located by looking for the Lion's Club sign at the start of the fence line, it will be on the right side as you heading east.
See the green grass in front of the fence line? my grea-granmother Alma had okra right there. I remeber many times going out with her to pick vegitables for dinner. Often times if the okra had gotten to large, she would tell me to throw it over to the cows. I would ask her why we were feeding it to the cows and she would tell me that it was to tough for us to eat.
One afternoon, I was apparently bored. Everyone was laying down taking a nap or dotting over little sister. So I went out to play and be quiet so she could sleep. I decided to go and play with the cows. I had been picking okra as my grandmother did and non of the wanted to come to the fence at that particular moment. So I did what every little 5 year old would do and go to them. LOL! Well, my plan worked! They loved the okra and came to me. Only problem was, they followed me right out the fence. I at the time didn't see any problem with it. However, I got bored and ran to play somewhere else and left them to fend for themselves.
The phone rang and it was our neighbor, he was calling my grandfather to tell him his cattle was out. Papa only thought it was our nasty bull who found his way out, Oh, No! It was all of them. I don't remember the exact head count, but I can tell you it was a bunch. My Papa and my dad went out and with the help from our neighbor and his 3 sons and a couple others, they managed to round them all back up. As they brought them in, I was told to hold the fence. LOL! So I would stand in front of the gate and hollar "Shew Cow, Shew! There was one particular that didn't like me saying that to her and she came at me, so up the tree I went. She got out again..... OOPS! I could hear my Papa hollarin' for me, but I decided that up in the tree was the best place for me.
Later that afternoon, after all the men had rounded up the cattle they ALL came lookin' for me and asked me if I knew how they got out. I simply told them I had been feeding them okra and they walked through the fence. As you can imagine that didn't go over well. So off the the wheeping willow tree I was sent to locate an apporpriate switch. I had to make yet again, several trips as I would always come back with the smallest, finest, and tinyest branch I could find. Each time, Papa would send me back for a bigger one.
I get it now Papa!
Even though the exterior and interior of the house has been changed, the memories of my childhood still remain. I stopped to ask the current owners if I could take a few pictures and explained to them why. They gracioiusly offered to allow me into their home so that I could see what they had done to the inside. "Today we are so wrapped up in our lives we dont stop and take time to remember." Yet these two wonderful people let a complete stranger into their home and shared a little bit of life with me and for that hour they allowed gave me great pleasure. Even though the walls have been knocked down and rooms moved and remodeled, I still remember life as it once existed. This is the house that I learned to cook in! This is the house where I learned how to pray! This is the house where I learned the meaning of Family! This is the house that I learned what love is! 
Even though it is only a bunch of grass and a few bare spots now. Once this large section of the yard to the right of the house was my great-grandmother's garden. Up against the fence stretched two rows of Grapevines, followed by rows of corn, raddishes, beets, potatoes, cuccumbers, tomatos, onions, squash, mustard greens, green beans, peas, okra and the last row was CABBAGE! Yet, another butt whoopin' I remeber getting. Every day, my grandmother and I would go out and help her pick veggies for dinner or lunch that day. One particular day, I decided I would go out and pick the cabbage for dinner that night. Only thing was, I picked two whole rows of it. Needless to say, that was not what she wanted. So my job was to return each and every head back to it's home before PaPa returned home in order for me not to be in trouble. I didn't get it done in time needless to say....