(WACO) – Shawnthena Burks can literally use the farm-to-table concept made popular these days in the culinary world.

Burks, 32, can slaughter cows and hogs, shell purple hull peas straight from the garden and use fresh peaches to top a tasty dessert.

Burks, who will graduate in August with an Associate of Applied Science degree in Culinary Arts at Texas State Technical College in Waco, credits her upbringing for making her the cook she is today.

She grew up on family land in Sandy in Limestone County as a self-described country girl. She had always been good with her hands, whether it was braiding hair or creating crafts.

“You saw cows, donkeys and grasshoppers,” she said. “I didn’t have cable.”

She spent a lot of time with her grandfather, Taylor Reed, who taught her how to make fresh pork sausage, butter and pork cracklings.

Her mother, Margaret Burks, taught her a lot about cooking while working two jobs. Burks and her mother would often pick and prepare vegetables from their garden.

“We would have a full family meal – a protein, three fresh vegetables, bread and tea each day,” Burks said. “My mother was always in the kitchen.”

She graduated in 2002 from Mexia High School and was active in the DECA club.

And the older she got, the more she developed a talent for baking cakes.

“When she did let me in the kitchen, my mother was impressed,” Burks said. “Food and family is everything.”

After high school, Burks had an automobile accident and said she did not know what to do with her life. But in 2012, she realized the profession she needed to pursue after making two wedding cakes.

“I think I reached a plateau of what I wanted to do in my life,” she said. “I was 27.”

She researched TSTC and learned about its Culinary Arts program. She visited the campus and talked to staff members who helped ease her way into technical college life.

“My faith is what put me here,” she said. “I asked God what I could do that I was overlooking and something my family could benefit from.”

Burks cited TSTC’s Chef Martin Ellenberger and Chef Len Pawelek as having pushed her hard in the Culinary Arts program.

Pawelek said Burks was ahead of her time in using vegetables and meat as fresh as possible in her dishes.

“She is way ahead of the curve in what the industry is coming back to,” he said. “I think she’s very respectful and passionate about what she does. She shows up and has a great attitude.”

Burks already has a job working at Rio Brazos Fine Custom Cuisine in Waco where she will be working with catering, a food truck and food preparation.

In the fall, Burks will begin work on an Associate of Applied Science degree in Web Design and Development Technology at TSTC in Waco. Her goal is to maintain her own web site for the catering business she wants to open one day.

“If I can keep following the path where every door has been open for me and build something big, I want to give back,” she said. “I want to have jobs open for good people.”

Summer commencement for TSTC campuses in Waco, North Texas, Williamson County and Fort Bend County is at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 19, at the Waco Convention Center on Washington Avenue.