Where did you get your vocabulary?

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I was born and raised a city girl, but also had country connections. All my mom's siblings stayed rural, near the family ranch. I always called it the farm. The brand was a circle slash, like the signs that stand for "no . . . ." whatever, or "do not". I cannot remember which way their slash ran. Anyway, I grew up hearing about polled Herefords and black and red angus. Appaloosas. quarter horses and paints. Pullets, roosters and guinea fowl played a roll in my childhood as well. One that really stuck with me was the Bremer bull. My extended family was from southeast Oklahoma. I am not sure when I realized that was a Brahman bull. The family did a lot of breeding of meat cattle. Herefords were short horn and it was common to breed them with other cattle that had desirable traits like heat tolerance and insect resistance. Brahman cattle are the ones with a hump near their shoulders. They originated in Asia and have genes from the Zebu cattle. At one time there was also a Santa Gertrudis bull. I saw a Charolais, and a Limousin. All of these were purchased to strengthen the herd. I know about cracking and shelling black walnuts, and hickory nuts. Persimmons, and Poke weed. Perch and catfish and crappie were also on my radar. My grandma and mom talked plants and wildflowers. Even then I would graze on herbs. Mom did not want me to, of course. I liked "sheep sours" which were small members of the oxalis family. They had tiny yellow blooms and yellow green clover like leaves and were sour to the taste. I liked those sheep sorrels and also the bigger cousin, the wood sorrels, which were darker green leaves with a reddish tinge, and the flowers were a lilac purple. I never once saw poison ivy. So, even though I grew up in the city, I am able to speak a little bit of country. I have not even thought about what I learned on my dad's side. I definitely need to get me some sand hill plums, though. Nothing better.