I have many wonderful memories of my childhood, including my great interest in the many stages of our wheat crop near our home in South Calabria in the Province of Cosenza. I was always beside my nonno when he was busy plowing the soil by hand, getting ready to plant the “winter wheat.”

He always bought the best disease-free wheat seeds to ensure an abundant grain crop. After the planting, he would tell me we had to wait ‘til spring to see the grass-type plants begin to grow. When the plants were a few inches high, it was time to hire a few women to pull the unwanted weeds, giving the wheat plants all the soil’s nutrients. No chemicals were ever used, just hours and hours of manual labor.