Shootin' it Straight - Hand Me Downs

I’ve been in enough homes in our rural community to know that many of us have that spot somewhere in the house. It may be a rickety shelf, tucked into a storage tote, or incorporated into kitchen décor, but it’s likely there. Somewhere, there’s a collection of recipes and cookbooks. Most hold personal meaning, hence the effort to hang on to them. Many are handed down, obtained through churches, or gathered from groups set aside for such things.

Old recipes are records of how our families were knitted together in years gone by. Very often you’ll find handwritten notes on cooking dumplings a certain way, simply labeled “Grandma’s Dumplings.” It’s not uncommon to discover weathered, folded notebook paper with “Maggie’s Reunion Casserole” scrawled across it, marking it as a family treasure.

These things matter on levels that have nothing to do with green bell peppers or marinated chicken breasts. Passing knowledge down the line is key to fighting the generational divide. The responsibility falls on us to take those heirloom worthy teachings and understand the things that kept generations before us churning along. Grandma’s wire-bound recipe books, with bindings falling apart and yellowed pages, mean something. And of course, you can count on those church cookbooks when you need to wallow in bacon grease, cast iron, and comfort.

The secrets of making cat-head biscuits and sawmill gravy were kept alive by pen long before online influencers knew what a camera was. It’s deeper than that. In a world bent on chasing the newest phone release, the coolest trend, or whatever captures our neutered attention spans, it’s paramount that we reach backward.

In the span of two lifetimes, most of what we’re known for, and all we accomplish, will be forgotten. Many of us remember our parents fondly, along with cherished memories made with our grandparents. Beyond that, most of us have only fragments of stories passed down, about people we never truly knew. Our ties to the past may remain intact only through scribbles on the backs of magazine articles, folded favorites cut from flour sacks, and faded ink on postcards. Some are organized into index cards in plastic containers. Some are tossed into catch-all drawers. All are important.

If you have those treasures filed away in your head, by all means put them to paper to be passed down. If you’re lucky enough to be on the receiving end of family heirlooms, hold fast to them. The same things that kept Grandpa looking forward to home after twelve grueling hours in the field still carry weight. Our elders made homes last, made relationships work, and plated meals that kept it all glued together. We’d do well to adhere to even a fraction of that standard.