Country Girl

Shinnston, West Virginia, May 30, 2018: Kathleen has been owner/Host of Gillum House Bed & Breakfast since it opened as a B & B in 1996. We thought it was time to tell how she learned to cook for you, her guests.Growing up in Brooke County West Virginia, we did not live in a town or city. We had an 8-party phone line with a Follansbee phone number – all I ever knew our number to be was R-4, my Granny and Pappy had J-3. Our mailing address was R.D.#3, Wellsburg. And we went to elementary school at Colliers Grade School in Colliers, WV.We had chickens – so there was no shortage of eggs. We had cows – so there was no shortage of milk, cream, or butter (and many hours were spent lifting the dasher up and down in that wooden churn). We made our bread, cakes, and pastries. Store-bought was not done.  Mom said, here is a cookbook. Have at it. She showed me how to make bread, cakes, cookies, pastries, and how to cook good food.Found a couple of photos recently of life on the farm at about age 2 & about age 6. It was a great place to grow up and taught many skills that come in handy today.