September 9, 2014
Wisdom from Foxfire:
“If you don’t share your blossoms, your flowers won’t grow; if you don’t share your bread, your dough won’t rise.”
Chatter and I think that sounds just about right.
Tipper
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I LOVE this blog. I happened upon it by accident, and it has been my greatest find. It inspires me on many levels. After listening to the songs, I want to pick up guitar again, and teach myself to play. Tipper inspires me on a daily basis to continue with my writing. I share the recipes with friends, and they tell me how much they love them. I feel like I know Tipper, The Deer Hunter, Chitter & Chatter;
Granny & Pap. I cannot tell you how I look forward to reading this blog each morning!! I am already looking in to buying a guitar with a smaller neck so I can experience some success in learning to play. Blessings to you Tipper & your family. I can’t wait for the Cookbook!!!
Isn’t that a lovely thought? I’ll remember that one!
(And I “shared” a few pictures of one of the Greek Sweet Red squash plants on my blog yesterday…even if none of the squash have time to ripen, I’m enjoying those plants very much!)
Just recently discovered your blog, I find it very interesting. I don’t know anything about dough but the flower thing is true. When you plant the scented sweet peas by seed you have to keep picking the flowers or they will ” go to seed”, and with zinnias you have to keep cutting them so the nutrients will go to the new stems that haven’t bloomed yet, they call them ” cut and come again ”
Responding later than usual this time but I’m with Janice and Ehtelene: reading the quote made me think of cutting bouquets for church or shut ins which also encouraged more blooms; and sharing sourdough starter or making extra loaves (for others)to keep the starter jug fresh.
Tipper,
Don’t know about that saying, but
the only flowers I got is in my
garden. By late summer the Morning
Glories have taken over.
Wonder what that pretty guitar
player is thinking about…Ken
I cannot grow flowers.
I cannot bake bread.
All I have to share,
Are the thoughts in my head.
Of those I give freely,
to one and to all.
I cast them aloft,
And see where they fall.
In return I get a mutter,
a shake of the head
and sometimes a proclamation
wishing me dead.
But I’ll keep on giving
By night and by day
Until white coated attendants
Come and take me away.
Ha Ha Ho Ho Hee Hee Ha Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Such a beautiful way to state sharing the world with others.
Tipper,
A very beautiful winter scene!
She must’ve been looking at either bulbs or dough for flowers would not be blooming!
Thanks Tipper,
Tipper,
We surely were on the same wavelength yesterday. I found another early Foxfire book at Mothers. I thought I would take it home and if I already had that
one, I would just pass it on to one of my boys. In case one wanted to read it for all the Appalachian wisdom they missed growing up in the late sixties and seventies…
Don’t know if your quotes today are in that particular book but it’s a very interesting coincidence!
How many times I have heard nearly the same quotes, about passing on blossoms, bread, etc.
Sometimes when inadvertently started to thank someone for a flower, that person will say, “Don’t thank me for the flowers, (usually a cutting, rooted piece or bulbs) or they will surely die”! “The more you give the more you receive.”
Of course one that was ingrained in my mind from youth, the golden rule…”Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!”
Thanks Tipper,
PS….There aren’t many exceptions to the golden rule, except in the case of Zucchini, and other Squash varieties this year…Please don’t nobody bring me no squash!
Can’t confirm the bread dough theory but the flower one would be true. If you regularly trim your flowers during their season they will continue to bloom. If you leave the plants alone, the blooms die and soon you are left with just green leaves. So, if while you are trimming, you give the cuttings to a friend or shut-in your flowers will continue to grow (and bloom).
Yep, it’s probably so.
We practiced these sharing beliefs in Choestoe. And where we took up bulbs (thinned out the flowers) to give to neighbors, more would grow.
When we shared a bit of dough with yeast, our remaining loaf and the “start” on the next still remained potent! I think in these sayings, a principle of life emerges: What is good and helpful to us should be shared. In this manner we spread abroad good will and goodness. The giver is strengthened and the recipient is happier for the gift.