Growing Our Own Food & Fetching Spring Water
By Jacqueline Rodriguez Verduzco*
I have such fond memories of growing up at my grandparents’ house, the wonderful times that my family shared there together, and the great meals that my Grandma cooked!
I remember the chores that they made us kids do – walking the cows, gathering eggs, watering the garden, fetching water. These happy memories are especially significant to me now as I see people standing in lines for food for their families.
My family has lived in the Costa Grande Region of Guerrero for over 150 years. When I was a kid, my grandparents had a house in the town of Agua de Correa, which is part of the municipality of Zihuatanejo.
Their home, especially Grandma’s kitchen, was the center of our family life, it was our meeting place, and my Grandpa’s cravings were “the house menu.”
My Grandparents’ Home
My grandparents’ home was built of adobe with a roof covered with clay tiles. The floor had a layer of polished gray cement that Grandma guaranteed to be cool and brilliant from her cleaning. No “zapatos” (shoes) in her house!
The largest part of the house had a common room where the beds were all together, separated by mosquito nets. The hallway ran the width of the house and was filled with hammocks and chairs. It was a place for socializing, sewing, doing homework. and listening to the radio.
Grandpa would ride around on his horse. He had cows and chickens. Grandma grew all kinds of scented herbs, medicinal plants, basil, peppermint, lemon tea, chamomile, rosemary, and others.
There were trees all around. She had lemons, guavas, mangoes, Tamarindo, almonds, papaya, creole plum, avocado trees, and lots of flowers.
The kids had endless tasks – helping with the milking, taking the milk jugs to Grandfather, walking the cattle, watering the garden, and collecting chicken eggs – all while the women flooded the kitchen with wonderful aromas. Grandpa loved his “aromas!”
Grandma’s Kitchen
The food was always so, so good at Grandma’s house! Everything was fresh. There was no electrical power in the area back then. We did not have refrigerators, so you had to grow your own food, go fishing, or go to the local farmer’s market.
Grandma’s kitchen was a constant delicacy factory. She and my mother were unstoppable when it came to feeding battalions, friends, and the broken-hearted. They fixed everything with food.
Grandma’s kitchen was outdoors attached to the side of the house, and in the back, there were a shower and washing sinks.
It had a high fireplace with three burners, a “comal” to smoke food, and a hand mill to grind corn. There was a storage room where she kept clay glasses, plates, and jars.
Everyone had to wash their own and put them back exactly where they belonged!
We had trays with seasonal fruit from the region – plums, mangoes, plantains, watermelon, jicamas, cucumbers, guavas, etc., and we had fruit trees growing on the property.
Grandma’s dining room was round with many chairs. She used an embroidered tablecloth and had another embroidered cloth for her handmade tortillas. It was a pleasure to see her table.
Meals were a ritual consisting of a soup and a stew usually made with fresh vegetables, noodles, or pasta. We had beef and poultry from their land and fish from the ocean. There was venison and wild game from the local hills. Grandma served beans and fresh cheese, and in the center of the table, she had a sauce of roasted red tomatoes, onion, garlic, and salt, ground by hand, with some fluffy tortillas that filled the whole house with aromas. Grandpa loved his “aromas.”
Our Water – Grandma was an Ecologist!
We did not realize it back then, but Grandma was an ecologist. She had a wooden trough with a drain that ran to the back of the kitchen where she collected the water and used it for the gardens. And, in the afternoons, she and the other women would take the children to the springs and waterfalls to collect fresh drinking water that flowed in barrels. The women carried the water back home in buckets on their heads.
We never thought that water would be sold to us one day.
Growing our own food, having access to freshwater, maybe we should go back to those ways.
*About the Author: Jacqueline Rodríguez Verduzco is a businesswoman in the Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, area. She works in the tourism sector, managing properties and operating a small hotel. She is the co-founder and owner of Groceries Delivery Service.
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