I have grown up in an agriculture family. My grandfather immigrated to the U.S. during the Bracero Program in 1952. The U.S. needed agriculture labor. He was placed in Texas in what is called Hill Country. With the foreman teaching him how to farm he had a unique way of combining his indigenous ways of farming to modern ways of farming.

Spiritual

My abuelita and mother are believers of folk medicine. First, to use sage in a new home or living space is a must. Second, this is repeated when someone has a gut feeing de malos espiritus. My abuelita also believed en el ojo so when we would go out she made sure that people would touch our head para no hacernos ojo.

My dad has always been a big hunter, during different hunting seasons he would take time off work and take my brother sister and I out of school to go hunting with him. He let us know that everything he hunted was intended for food and told us others hunted for sport and that was something he did not believe in.

Growing up I was treated with both medicine and remedies from my culture. My mom is a nurse so she always knew what to do in times of need. If I was feeling sick to my stomach she'd give me sprite and a piece of toast, if I had a cough she'd lather me in vicks. But when my symptoms couldn't be reduced by remedies she'd give me medicine. I remember having to take the nasty cough syrup, pepto bismol, and ask I got older she'd tell me to take some advil. As I've gotten older, I still revert to these remedies.

Household Management

My parents both work hard towards having a nice, clean house. For as long as I remember, I always saw them both cleaning almost everyday to make sure thing were in order. The also both worked together in forming a budget. I have really learned from them in this way. Seeing the way they have saved their money has helped me as I've started to live on my own. I realized that I have really become like my parents in this way.

Baking has always been something I was interested in since I always saw my mother and grandmother baking for the holidays or other events. I have been able to learn different recipes from my mother, and how to tweak certain recipes to get that special taste that everyone loves. It is the same with my grandmother, and I have learned how to make cakes, sugar cookies, biscochos in the same way they have made them.

Budgeting

Since budgeting is not something that is taught often in schools, much of what I know comes from both my parents. My mother was and still is the person who controls the money in our household, and I have learned how to manage a bank account and everything financial from her. It makes it even better that she has always worked in financial jobs, so the knowledge is all the more reliable. As for what I learned from my father, I learned how to keep my costs low for my small business, and how to make back my money from what I have created.

Baptism-

I was expected to do all the practices of a catholic baptism, first communion and confirmation and actually my confirmation was something I did as an adult because I wanted it be something I chose not because it was chosen for me. In actuality this is where I learned that that everybody has their own opinion of what religion and how religion has to be done.

Growing up my father loved gardening even though he spent a big part of his day doing field work. Whenever he got home our bonding time was going out to the back yard and helping him tend to his plants and do any yard work that was needed. We grew chilies, tomatoes, tomatillos and even helped him graft an orange tree to give limes and lemons as well.

Cooking

Whenever it was time to eat dinner i made sure to help my mom cook her meals, so I learned how to cook certain dishes that my siblings don’t know to make. These dishes include orange rice, mole, Chile rellenos, and hand made tortillas.

My father is a great chef. My grandfather apparently ran a pañería (sweet bread store). My dad learned to cook and brought his talents here. He worked at California Pizza Kitchen for a while before moving on to Frugattis. My grandma has many recipes. I successfully learned how to make tortas de papa this year. My mother taught me to make soup. My father left me the recipe for his flan.

Folk Medicine:

If there was ever anything wrong, Vaporub would solve it. Trouble breathing? Vaporub on your chest and nose.

My mother would often burn sage where we lived to clean away impurities. Drinking water with lime in it.

Agriculture and Mining:

My father’s side of the family grew up on a ranch. He would feed the donkeys and horses with his siblings. My mother’s side of the family also took care of animals. My uncle still has some chickens in his yard.

Religion:

Every single one of my siblings has been baptized, and we’ve all had our first communion sans my younger brother. We used to always go to church. I would always drag my feet because I hated sitting there listening to someone talk about things I didn’t understand. I really liked the singing that we did, though. The sounds of everyone at church singing along to “Hallelujah” with a mariachi band were the most exciting parts of the day.

When there is something broken in the house, my dad is able to fix it. In addition, he is also able to fix our cars when there is something wrong with it. When I became a teenager, he taught me how to fix basic things.

Household Management

Growing up, my dad did most of the cooking and my mom cooked once in a while. I would stay with him in the kitchen and watch him cook.

I was raised about a bunch of women who loved to cook. I was always told that feeding people is the way to people’s hearts. I was taught many different comfort dishes that are pretty easy to make and still really filling. Over the years I learned to fall in love with it too.

I also know how to clean and manage a home. I think It’s been put in my head how important it is to keep your space clean. It’s important to always have to home clean in the event an unexpected visitor comes.

Most of my family has worked in agriculture, including my parents. Whether it was grape fields or any other produce really, as far as I remember, my parents would come home sweating, and with dirt on their clothes from a very long day of hard work. I personally never did work in agriculture because my parents didn't want me to continue in their footsteps and instead encouraged me to focus on my education and obtain a career, I was passionate about. However, that being said, all the talk that my family has shred about the field conditions, weather making either the working day easier, the different hardships of every produce field, the distinguishing exactly what kind of the produce was being grown even if all that able to be seen is a sprout, the different time of years meaning the harvest of different produce and in what ways, etc. have all seemed to get stuck in my head and is known a fund of knowledge that I hold because of my family.

FOLK MEDICINE

In me familytime you are getting cold you are told to rub your hands with vicks that is so good and i like the smell of vicks also . Some time blmas go over to the phone which is so not that good and im happy to be in the thought of these senarious.

Growing up, my family never had the best income. My parents worked full time jobs and both parents, especially my dad, would pick up extra shifts for overtime pay. When I was in middle school, I remember my parents talking about their credit card debt and how they had maxed out on multiple credit cards. I seen them struggling to pay them all back and from then on knew that if I wanted to live a little more stress free than my parents, I would have to budget better. So although they were the "perfect role models" when it came to budgeting, their experiences are what helped me plan ahead.

While growing up my dad would usually try and fix any car problems that we might have at the time. He wasn't an actual mechanic but he would find a way to fix it and he would learn that way. he would fix it and save money since he didn't have to take our cars to the mechanic. Slowly but surely he started to learn a bit about learning cars to the point where he can fix any simple car problem that we had.

House Maintenance

My dad and my Tio's know a bit about fixing up houses and fixing problems around the house. Obviously they didn't know as much when they started but like i said before they started leaning and now they don't need to call a repair service for some house problems.

I'm not sure if everyone does this but after a person passes away, my family does a prayer week in which we pray the rosary. We get together the day after the person is buried in hopes to help them crossover into heaven. I grew up praying the rosary so I was shocked when I realized this wasn't what everyone does.

It's challenging to be the first child and a female in a Hispanic family when you grow up with traditional parents who think that women are only meant to be housewives. I was soon tasked with a wide range of household duties, including childcare and cooking. All of the expertise that my mother could impart to me was that of cooking recipes and household maintenance. To be fully prepared for independence, you must push boundaries to learn other life essentials, such as how to change a car tire.

In many Mexican households, it is 'tradition' that women are the ones who always have to cook. Personally, I never really liked this ideology and neither does my mother even though she doesn't really go against it, it that makes sense. But knowing this, made me want, because of my decision to learn to cook and bake. My mom is the one in my family who always gets complimented for her cooking and baking, which I personally agree, even though some might say I'm biased. So, I started just being around the kitchen while she cooked and while we talked I payed attention to the way she did things and these memories are some of my favorites with my mom actually. Now when I'm cooking or baking, I find that the strategies I learned from her and some, I made on my own are now funds of knowledge I hold.

Growing up if there was ever something broken around the house my dad would always be the one to fix it on his own, even if he didn’t know how to. His reasoning was always it’s a waste of money for someone to come and fix it when he can do it. As long as he thought with common sense it would turn out fine. This goes for anything related to cars, appliances, and his house.

Household Management: Cooking

While my dad focused on the fixing aspects of the house my mom focused on the cooking. She would cook for us everyday and has been something she volunteers to do when a family member invites her to a party. Immediately offering to bring something or helping with a dish. Both my parents focused on two different aspects but involved both myself and sister to do both because they don’t want us to rely on others for simple tasks like cooking and repairs.

I grew up with almost my entire family attending a Southern Baptist church. My uncle was the senior pastor that I would hear preach every Sunday morning of my upbringing. I have many friends and family members who have up degrees up to doctoral degrees in biblical studies from Simonaries, and at a young age, I surrendered my life to Christ.

Construction

My father has always been a part of construction. When I was very young he started his own company doing masonry and ceramic tile, and soon after that, he started a second company constructing entire homes. I got to see the empty lot getting watered, the groundbreaking, the foundation being poured, the framing going up, all the way through to making the house look finished including painting, putting in appliances, and landscaping.

With me, I am not religious but I know my mom’s side is Catholic, and my dad is Mormon. Even though I was baptized Catholic my family does religious things such as church and praying. I know that’s not all, but that is the things my grandma does, but my mom doesn’t do it anymore. I know some Catholicism, and Mormonism, but I don’t follow either one and their beliefs.

My mom always had some sort of herbs for any sickness to relieve any pain we might have. After some time, I pick up what herbs would be good for a stomach ache or a headache. My mom learned about folk medicine from her mom. If you ever need good remedies, I can ask my mom. I hope to learn more remedies and at times I can do it all by myself.

Religion:

Religion is an important part of my family's morals. We always go to Church on Sunday morning. Church consists of singing songs, reviewing the bible, and a pamphlet with bible scriptures. Every year, they host an assembly that keeps our religious aspect strong. I can answer some biblical questions you might have, which are qualities I was taught by my parents. Every day, we have daily scriptures that strengthen my spiritual side. My mom strongly recommends we keep our religious aspect strong. Thus, I wish to bring this aspect to my own family when I have one.

I’m the one who does the grocery shopping in the house. Typically my dad gives me money for the groceries and I kind of just have to figure out how to make it work. I typically never go over because i tend to know how much my groceries should be and what could cause me to go over.

Growing up, I was always left home alone, So I taught myself to clean and cook when I had nothing else to do. I feel as if as the oldest girl in my family I was always left home to do things while everyone goes to the store. Even the little kids, I learned to take care of small children as little as 3 months since I was 11 years old.