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Ellen
Rowell of Frisco City didn’t grow up on a farm and she didn’t marry
a farmer, but she doesn’t deny she has farming in her blood.
"My
grandparents were from North Alabama and they farmed and lived around
lots of other people who did. I guess I got it from them," she
said.
Ellen
said she worked for the Co-op store in Frisco City over 30 years ago.
Then she spent 27 years working with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) in
Monroe County before returning to the Farmers Cooperative Market.
"I
retired from FSA after my husband died, and I was working in
registration at the local hospital. It was a lot of night work though,
and a farmer mentioned to me they were looking for someone at the Co-op.
I came and talked with manager Kenneth Waters and he hired me,"
said Ellen.
She
also said while the Co-op is very different from what it was 30 years
ago, she still enjoys some of the same things that attracted her back
then.
"I
really enjoy the cow sale on Mondays, I work it every week. I also just
like working with farmers. And I see a lot of the same farmers I worked
with at FSA. Kenneth is a real nice person to work for and the other
people I work with are nice, too. We all get along real well," she
said.
Ellen
helped her mother with the occasional cake when she was young, but didn’t
do much cooking until she got married.
"My
mother stayed home, so she did all the cooking for the family and would
let us help every now and then. When I was in the tenth grade, I made a
roast for the Beef Cook-off and I won first place in the county. Then,
after I married Danny, I started to try new recipes, and I’d ask Mama
questions. I enjoyed cooking and started to feel like I had a natural
talent for it," said Ellen.
Ellen
is the seventh of eight children, and though she has lost two siblings,
she said her remaining family is always together for Thanksgiving, a
holiday for which she loves to prepare food.
"We
usually have about 40 people and we have our Thanksgiving dinner in the
fellowship hall of a local church because I don’t have room in my
house for that many people and neither does Mama," she said.
Her
mother, Mamie Tucker, also lives in Monroe County and the rest of their
family lives within about 150 miles of each other.
"But
Thanksgiving is the only time of year we’re all together," she
said.
Ellen’s
daughter, Amy Bell, also enjoys cooking.
"She’s
really good at making light and healthy versions of traditional Southern
foods," said Ellen.
Amy
apparently inherited her mother’s love of farming as well.
"She
works for the Natural Resources Conservation Service," added Ellen.
In
addition to cooking, Ellen said she enjoys cross stitching and flower
gardening when she’s not working. She also likes going to concerts and
she enjoys her work in the Church of Christ at Ollie.
While
she doesn’t do a great deal of cooking on a day-to-day basis, Ellen
loves the big cooking that comes along with holidays and special events.
"I
really like to do sweets – candies, cakes, cookies and all those
goodies," she said. |
Chicken
and Dumplings
