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Grandma's Story

Grandma Hopkins lived in the mountains of Virginia, where she baked cakes to sell the public for over twenty years. One year Grandma sold over 1,000 cakes from her home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Grandma had SECRET RECIPES which she would not even share with family members. Grandma baked cakes for three local restaurants for many years.

Grandma sold yeast rolls, apple butter and chow-chow with her cakes and pies at a farmer's market, where she built herself a reputation for honesty and fairness by always taking "fresh baked" pies and cakes to the market.

After Grandma retired from baking, I kept begging her to let me print her Secret Recipes. She finally agreed to let me print her personal collection of favorite recipes, including her secret recipes for cakes, pies and rolls along with several specialty recipes, which had been traded with family embers and church friends from those all day meetings with dinner on the grounds. Grandma was a Primitive Baptist.

Grandma had seventeen grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren. She baked a cake of their choice for each of her children and their wives and her grandchildren on each one's birthday, for many years. Grandma also made a bed quilt for each of her children and grandchildren.

Grandma's Cookbook is a collector's item and a treasure to own. Grandma's cookbook has been accepted to be included in: The "BEST of the BEST from Virginia Cookbook."

Grandma Hopkins - Her Life

Grandma Hopkins was born in 1916 on Christmas Day. She went to work in a cotton mill when she was 11 years old. She worked a little while until the child labor law was passed and she had to quit and wait until she was 15 years old to go back to work. Grandma Hopkins' daddy died when she was a small girl, so her childhood was filled with hardship. Grandma only got a 4th grade education in school. Grandma learned from her four older brothers and one sister, however, she got most of her education on her own. During the time when she grew up, a lot of children stayed home and helped farm because of the economics of the times.

Grandma married when she was 19 years old and moved to a farm. In 1937 she started raising her family when her first son was born. Although times were hard in the thirties and forties, she never complained. Grandma worked very hard and many long hours to provide for her growing family. One of the happiest times Grandma had during the early years of marriage was when she had saved up enough money to purchase a new wood cook stove. If you knew just how poor the household furnishings were during the time when Grandma was young, you could appreciate her gratitude. Even simple things meant a lot during the Depression years.

Grandma raised six boys before "perma-press" and no-ironing clothes were invented. She washed clothes in a wringer washer and hung them on a clothesline to dry, winter and summer. Sometimes the clothes would freeze and she would bring them inside and hang them near the stove to dry. Grandma's family was the joy of her life and she was proud of everyone of her children.. She labored endlessly to keep clean clothes on her children and good meals on the table. Grandma loved to prepare special dishes for her family and friends to enjoy. Grandma was a thoughtful mother, grandmother and friend to all who knew her.

It takes time and maturity to look back on the labor and love of our parents, with appreciation and gratitude for their sacrifices and dedication to provide the very best they could for us. The things we remember are only a small part of what our parents have done for us.

Grandma learned to sew on a pedal-type sewing machine and was a very good seamstress. Grandma made all of her dresses and suits. She even made shirts for her children when they were young. She made dresses out of chicken feed sacks when the children were young and the money was scarce. She also made bed sheets from flour sacks. Grandma was thrifty and did not believe in wasting things. She would buy in quantity when the things she used most were on sale. She used manufacturers coupons to save more. She shopped for bargains for her baking needs and household supplies. Grandma was careful in her buying, but generous in her giving.

After baking cakes for many years, Grandma was blessed to build a new house, which she designed herself, with a lot of space for her baking and canning needs. She had a large pantry for here canned goods and baking supplies. All of her sons helped build her new home. When it was completed, it was paid for, and Grandma was debt free. Grandma's last years were her best years. After she quit baking, she was able to travel a lot and go to many church associations with one of her sons, who is a Primitive Baptist Minister. Grandma left a good example for us to follow.