In the fall of 2008, after nearly a year-long search, my wife and I finally purchased a home in the Houston Heights Historic District. More than anything, it gave us a good reason to live differently.

I grew up in a small town in rural South Texas in a family that held a long tradition of farming and ranching. Each spring, my grandmother would cultivate an acre of tomatoes in front of their house to sell at the local farmer’s market come May. My grandfather, being the “piddler” that he was, always had an experiment grafting fruit and pecans trees. Above all though, the man loved his watermelons. It was rumored that at times he planted so many of them, he would bring four or five to the house and cut only the hearts out, throwing away anything that was not the very tastiest.

They always butchered their own calves, pigs, and chickens. Much of the meat would be ground for sausages, fresh and dried, then left to hang in their smokehouse.

They were not concerned with trends. They got their water from the tap and their milk the barn. Ultra-pasteurized was not a word that they were familiar with. Their butter had flavor.

Stacey and I are two generations removed from this sort of lifestyle and, while in some circles today it is en vogue to “go organic,” we wanted to make the change to carry on their tradition of just doing things the right way.