Marcia Plaster may not have been born on an Alabama farm, but she certainly has the heart of one who’s never strayed far from the fields.

“We’re just real family oriented, and we have that typical closeness of farm families. Even though our sons didn’t go into farming, they’ve always loved to see the family land well cared for, as farm families do,” says Marcia, who moved to Prattville with her family when she was a young girl.

“I had gone to six different schools by the time I finished sixth grade,” she said. The summer before she started the seventh grade, her father’s work as a contractor brought them to Prattville.

“Mother loved Prattville, and it loved her. Daddy said he didn’t have the heart to ask her to move again because she was so happy here,” Marcia remembers.

Marcia later enjoyed a long career in education, but she always had a love for farms, much like her husband James.

“James and I live about a quarter mile from his old family home place, and the only time he lived away from the farm was during his four years at Auburn University and the two years he served in Korea,” Marcia says proudly.

Marcia adds that while James still has a few cows, they now rent much of their land to other farmers and are proud to see other families who love the land as they do.

“Farmers are probably closer to nature and God than any other one group of people. They have to have such faith to continue year after year, but it’s easier to have that kind of faith when you work so close to the land all your life,” says Marcia.

Marcia and James have two sons, Jordan and Bob, and three grandchildren, and she describes her family as split but united.

“Jordan and his son Harry went to the University of Alabama, but Bob and his sons, John and Jim, chose Auburn,” says Marcia. She also says they have two wonderful daughters-in-law in Jenny and Betty.

According to Marcia, her interest in cooking came from her mother Ruth Bowers.

“Mother was a great cook, but I always enjoyed planning the menu and presentation more than the actual cooking,” said Marcia. She passes along several of her mother’s recipes this month, including Tamale Pie, Eggplant Parmesan and Strawberry Chiffon Pie.

“Most of these recipes have been around for years,” she says, but the recipe for Bream Cakes was created by her son, Bob. “Now, he got my mother’s flair for cooking,” says Marcia.