What snack would you eat right now?
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My snack of choice would be a humble bowl of popcorn. Not the store-bought microwave bags full of PFAS. (I know they say they now have “PFAS-free” options—I just don’t believe them. And as an environmental professional, I’ve seen enough contamination data to stay skeptical). But good home-popped popcorn. Popped with coconut oil https://amzn.to/4sDun0y
(affiliate link) or lard, seasoned with nutritional yeast (affiliate link)and popcorn salt (affiliate link). Five minutes from counter to bowl.
Around here, that bowl carries a whole chain of ordinary work through many hands. Last year we tackled several rows of garden popcorn. My son and I started with a couple rows—his little boots shuffling between stalks, tugging ears bigger than his hands. He lived for using the corn knife while I held stalks steady with gloved hands. The next day my dad, sister, and family friend finished the other couple rows. Ma shucked them at the kitchen table while watching TV—a perfect calming activity. The shucked cobs dried in an out-of-the-way spot, turning quietly perfect over weeks. Once dry, my sister shelled kernels loose until they clattered into bowls. Finally, my dad and I used the air compressor to blast out every bit of chaff so only good kernels remained. Those gallon bags fill our pantry.
I scoop kernels into the hot oily stovetop popcorn pot (affiliate link)and kids drag chairs close to watch oil shimmer, then the first pop, then the storm. We eat by the gallon over months—post-dinner fuel, “movie night” chaos where kernels scatter everywhere from eager child hands. We all pitch in to clean the floor mess—all of us giggling as we chase escapees across the carpet, turning spilled popcorn into a game.
Although we’re starting to teach our son the work behind the bowl, they don’t fully know the drying racks or chaff under fingernails. Just “our popcorn.” That’s growing food, raising kids, building community—not Instagram projects. Hands passing cobs, kernels bouncing on the floor, small faces waiting for magic.
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