When I was younger, I would go with my dad to his garden and help him pick chiles to later dry them. As soon as I entered middle school my dad would stop taking me to instead focus on doing school work instead of helping him. But I would still go to his garden from time to time when he wanted my mom's help and when I went the only thing I would see were his chiles de diablo tied to a metal pole to help them grow straight and water dripping down into the fertilizer.   After he finished picking all the grown chiles he would take the bag and throw them all over the kitchen table to dry them. After they were dry he would blend them into a substance like tajin to make a spicier seasoning on his fruits that he also grew in his garden. On special occasions, he would put 5-6 of them into food. The leftover chiles would be made into coronas that me, mom, and dad would make. The coronas would be used to store the leftover chiles but since his plants would grow a whole ton he gives coronas to his friends or random people he would meet as a sign of friendship.  Every time you walked past the kitchen table and hallway all you could see and smell were his chiles de diablo. Some were on the table and others were the big coronas we would make. The worst stuff or the funniest thing about blending chiles was when my dad would accidentally gas the entire house with the smell of blending chiles. I and my mom would start to cough and tear up since the smell was way too strong while my dad would run straight out the door.
 

– Ernesto Hernandez

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant