Chitter barefooted at Pap’s big garden
May is the month you start going barefooted and stop eating squirrel and rabbit (May is the first month that don’t have an R in it.)
—Ed Ammons
I used to go barefooted all summer long. My feet were so tough I could run along the gravel road and never think a thing about it. I sure can’t do that today.
Other than scratches and cuts the main enemy of my bare feet were honeybees. After a sting my foot would swell up and most of the time Granny would feel sorry for me and let me lay on the couch while she put a pillow under my foot to prop it up. After the initial pain went away the sting area would about itch me to death.
The girls also liked to go barefooted in the summer. They faced the same obstacles that I did.
One time we were at a get together and they were running around barefooted outside. I didn’t mind until I noticed the deck was coming up in places. I knew it was only a matter of time until a child got a splinter in their foot as they ran back and forth between the house and the yard. I told the girls to put their shoes on. Chatter failed to heed my warning and soon had a big long splinter in one of her feet. It took a couple of grown men to hold her down while her daddy pulled it out.
After the tears subsided and we’d cleaned the wound up she was happy to put her shoes on and go back to playing with all the other kids.
Last night’s video: A People and Their Quilts 17.
Tipper
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Shoes are of the devil. We used to play hide and seek at night, running barefoot to make less noise. It’s a miracle none of us got snake-bit.
I did the same back in the late 60’s, it was heck to put my feet back in shoes come fall.
City life isn’t too different from county living when it comes to going barefooted. With one exception, your feet toughened from walking running or playing on concrete sidewalks. We had backyards where creatures were and stepped on a few of them too. The worse thing was a rusty nail. Always called for a tetanus shot. Yuck!!! Took the fun out of barefooting, but never learned a thing. Still ran around shoeless. I’m 77 now and find it tough to go outside barefoot, I now wear, around the place, flip flops, but still barefoot indoors. Old fool that’s what I am. LOL! Liked the little song from Miss Rita. Miss Tipper glad you’re resting up and now blogging here. Love to Miss Louzine and prayers for her and the family. Hugs and kisses for little Ira. Bet he’s growing like a weed. Have a great Sunday everyone out there in YouTube land. Take care too.
Love your stories, which bring back delightful memories of going barefoot in the summer as a child. Could hardly wait for summer vacation from school to experience the freedom of no shoes.
I’m 72 but my Dad never let us go barefooted. He said our feet would become wide & ugly like Little Abner’s & he would point to my Mom’s feet (she spent her life going barefooted) and say, “ do you want your feet to look like your Mom’s?” We couldn’t go barefoot in the house either. Dad said you have house shoes, so wear them. My Dad was of German & Dutch decent & his family, although dirt poor farmers, were extremely clean. To this day I don’t go barefoot & not even in the house. I have very slender feet & always thought Dad must been right
Ran around outside barefooted all the time when I was little. Never gave it a second thought. Not any more though.
As I read the comments looks as though most of us went barefooted when we were younger. Now as we mature some of us have to protect our feet. I’m 78, still very active, but have learned there’s two things I need. A good pair of shoes and a good mattress!!
Amen, Sister!
Of all the foot-related pains of youth mentioned today, those bruises Randy mentioned hurt the longest. We called them stone bruises. They’d take a few days to heal. Stings, stickers and splinters were not usually a problem for more than a few minutes unless infection got involved.
I experienced both a bee sting and a large wooden splinter in my foot during childhood. As I recall I still went barefoot until my late teens, then it wasn’t “cool” anymore.
May 1st was a big day here. It was the day we could officially go “barefooted.” All the kids at school talked about it because we couldn’t wait to get home and take our shoes off and just run through the cool grass. It was a rite of passage because we knew summer was just around the corner. I don’t go barefooted outside anymore but when I have been outside or get home, the first thing I do is take off my shoes.
Tipper, thank you for last night’s reading. I loved every chapter of the book. I don’t think I have ever seen so many quilts and I loved the stories about all of them. Can’t wait to see what you pick next.
Prayers for Granny and all of the family. Please wish Matt a belated Happy Birthday also!
I’m the queen of barefoot! I’ve never liked shoes and if it’s warm the “dogs” -old Army talk are roaming free. My feet too were once tough as shoe leather. I found a pedicure thing that buffs the hard skin off and that is a tremendous help. Bees, glass, splinters and such are all the risks you incur while choosing to free the feet. I will vouch for TX and FL being bad places to go barefoot but you haven’t lived til your baby gets in fire ants and you get hurt water hosing her down to save her literally and they get you. (so I heard from a LA Army guy.) I now have red ants in WV but when I find them the party is on til death! I say bring it! The best one EVER was when I watched a neighbor pour gas down yellow jacket holes and he lit them up. You should’ve heard the whole yard yard go “whoosh!” Lol BUGS AND ARTHROPODS will make you dance with hurt feet!!! Lol be safe y’all!
Hey folks, going barefoot when I was a kid and chickens running loose (nowadays free range to the educated folks) is the reason I grew so big, I was well fertilized. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! As for bee stings we didn’t keep anything for them and since my Daddy didn’t smoke, I didn’t have any tobacco to put on the sting, just pull the stinger out and go on and hurt for a little while.
When I was young I went barefoot whenever possible, now at 71 the only places I’m barefoot is the shower and bed.
Thank you for this mornings post. Growing up my mama would never let us go barefooted until May 1st. I always thought this was just a rule she came up with but after reading your post I’m thankful to see it was her mountain heritage.❤️⛰️ She grew in in the Georgia mountains near Gainesville in White Co.
We were glad to hear the good news about your mama being home. We’re continuing to pray for her and for the girls and the babies.
Can you tell us which girl is Chitter and which one is Chatter? I always get confused with that.
Glad to see you back on your channel.
Have a blessed day ,
Kathy
Kathy-Corie is Chatter and Katie is Chitter 🙂
Poor Chatter! I had a similar experience with a plum thorn–it was one of those that had to be dug out with a needle. We had a lot of clover in the yard and would get stung mostly in the arch of the foot which both hurt and tickled when the scratching began. My baby brother had the worst reactions. His foot would be completely flat from the swelling. We always went barefoot during the summer but I don’t like it now even in the house. I had forgotten about the season not to eat squirrels and rabbits–I remember they would get what we called wolves in their necks but I’m not sure if there were other reasons.
I have a lot of lettuce in the garden. Next week I’ll make some “lettuce and onions” for me and my son. We can eat a huge bowl full with some hot cornbread and butter. We have our plants and seeds but can’t plant until my husband and son can plant. I have balance problems and can’t go out to the garden alone. I sure do miss it.
I hope Miss Granny is still improving. Yall feel like family to me.
Yes! We went barefooted all the time during the summer….but you had to wait until May 1st to go barefooted! We would wait with great anticipation for that day to come. Our feet got tough, too. There was a wide gravel parking lot been our house and the church and we would run across that parking lot over to the church and climb up a great big hemlock tree and sit up in that tree for long periods of time (watching traffic, “Hiding” from people coming in and out and just laugh and laugh about how they never saw us there). Great memories! Have a great day! Continuing prayers for all, Jane
When my kids were little we’d always have barefooted races when it was raining. The harder the rain the more fun it was. We had a big oak tree across the road. First one to touch the tree and get back to the porch won. I still love bare feet in the rain. Raining here in east TN today, better take my shoes off. ; )
Barefoot? That’s some kind of wine ain’t it? Barefooted is what we say in our part of Appalachia! If you go without a hat you’re bareheaded, right? Not barehead, are you? Same with your hand, without gloves ain’t you barehanded? Barelegged or bareleg?
This is my attempt at humor so please don’t be offended if you read this.
Love your comment! Hilarious!
None of the kids wore shoes from May 1st until school started when I was growing up. Stone bruises hurt like the devil but the biggest obstacle was walking barefooted to our cousin’s house after the road was freshly tarred. I never heard the saying mentioned in Ed’s comment. I have heard you shouldn’t eat oysters in the months that don’t have an R.
Praying for Granny!
Today is the anniversary of my fathers death in 1974. Just 50 years ago. Many souls have come and many have gone in that short span of time. Consolations are unnecessary, I see his passing as something similar to a release from prison back into the place from whence he came.
I went barefoot as a girl all of the time except when we went somewhere to visit relatives or to the store. I ran up and down our graveled driveway without any problems. Got stung with honeybees and would stop rub my toe/foot for a few seconds and continue to go on my way. Climbed tall trees in our front yard feeling the rough bark and hung upside down in the top over the creek and watched fish swim downstream. When I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at age 60 my barefoot days were over. I can’t walk a few feet without my feet hurting and wear slippers inside with hard soles. How I miss walking across the fresh plowed soil in Daddy’s garden and feeling the soft, silky grass between my toes.
In my young years I went barefoot every summer. Pulled my shoes off right when school let out until right before school started, which back then was after Labor Day in September. Ran on the streets many a day during the hot summer heat when the pavement felt like it could cook an egg. Flip flops were wore some of the time during summer in my teen years. Even as a young adult I went barefooted outside until I got a nail stuck in my heal. The tetanus shot was enough to make me from then on wear good tennis shoes shoes outside. I never wore shoes in the house until my older years when Plantar fasciitis set in and good support house shoes are now wore. My fishy foot as I call it can be extremely painful. So yes, wearing my good house shoes is worth not having the pain. Oh how I miss my youth and days gone by.
We also weren’t allowed to go barefooted until May 1st and I also had the same trouble with honeybees. My grandaddy once wet some tobacco and put it on the sting. I don’t remember if it helped much. I stepped on some glass one time and my grandmother put fatback on my foot to draw out any other glass that may be in there. My feet are too tender to walk outside now unless I’m just in the grass.
I used to go barefoot outside a lot more than I do now. At some point our yard became full of some kind of weed that has stickers, named “prickery” weed by my oldest child. Now, since I am mostly barefoot inside, I just keep an old pair of shoes under the chair on the back porch and slip them on as I head out.
I’ve suffered the bee stings and itches, too but the most painful barefoot injury was a molten hot marshmallow stuck to my foot when someone swung their roasting stick too hard trying to put out the flames.
I forgot to say please send hugs and kisses to Granny! I am so glad she’s home! Can’t wait to see her cooking and crocheting!! Also happy to see Tipper back in her gardens!!
I too grew up barefoot. I only wore shoes when it was cold or we went somewhere. My biggest threat growing up in FL was sandspurs. L9ts of their thorns got left in my feet and my father would pull out his pocket knife to get them out. it always scared me, but not enough to wear shoes
The topic of when to go barefoot was also an issue when I was growing up in the 1950’s. When I was in my 30’s I wrote a song about it for my Mother.
FOR MOTHER
(verse 1)
I remember springtime, when I was just a child
Going barefoot down the dusty lane
Picking berries that grew wild
I heard my mother’s lovely voice
As it floated on the breeze
“Get in here and get some shoes on
Or you’ll begin to wheeze!”
(chorus)
“Child you know you can’t go barefoot
Before the first of May
Or you’ll surely take consumption
And they’ll carry you away
And worsh them dirty berries
‘for you put ‘em in your mouth
Or you’re certain to be wormy
Like your cousins in the south!”
(verse 2)
Well, I listened to my mother
Cause I knew she would not lie
And I knew my folks couldn’t carry on
Without me if I died
So, I washed my wild strawberries
And got my shoestrings tied
And went to find my sisters
To play some ‘hoopie-hide.
(repeat chorus)
Miss Rita, your song made me laugh. I hope you put it to music and sing it to those who need to hear it. 😀
Charla, I did, and my mother requested it often. LOL!
Going barefoot was THE thing when I was growing up. Now at going on 83, I only go barefoot in the home. My feet have become too soft and tender from shoe wearing. My doctor recently suggested I get ‘back to Earthing’ – but how does one do that when one lives in a ‘concrete jungle’ high-rise! I trust Granny continues to improve and having better days now that she is at home. I remain in prayer for you all –
I lost a nail or two going barefooted, and I still have a big ole scar on my right instep form a cut sixty odd years ago. But the one I remember most was getting into daddy’s electric hog fence while barefooted. We had a storm and some of the hogs got out so we were rounding them up, being 10 or maybe 11, I wasn’t as respectful of the fence as I should have been. After I backed into it with bare wet feet I gained the same respect that I still have for one today. After it was all over and really nothing more than my pride was hurt, I caught a good bit of joshing about it from my friends.
Morning everyone. When I was a kid I was always barefooted. Nothing hurt my feet. When I was in high school I stepped on a piece of glass. It must have been small because it didn’t really hurt and there wasn’t much blood. It mostly was irritating. After the doctor gouged a big hole in my foot to find it, I started wearing shoes outside. That was about the time I realized my childhood was over. Hope granny is fine and everyone else too. Anna from Arkansas.
The main enemy of the bare footed child in my day were stickers. I grew up in Texas where everything seems to grow horns, including the grass. Our yard had plenty of them – it was like stepping on a tack.
I remember going barefoot all summer too. My grandpa lived next to us and he would let the chickens out to roam free during the day. We would step in chicken hockie (poop) and we would run to the side of the house and rinse it off at the spigot. People told me that was why my feet were growing so big. lol
I grew up in Florida and we had sand spurs everywhere. Now, those were horrible if you stepped on them. Or stingin nettles. We would run to the orange grove behind our house and stick our foot in the hot sand. Gosh.. so many memories are coming back to me this morning.
Praying everyone is doing great! God bless!
Never heard of anyone besides my family using the word “hockie” for poop. I had a cousin who would try to pick up the dry chicken poop and try to eat it when he was a toddler.
Wanda, I was nearly grown before I learned that hockey was a game! LOL!
I use to run barefoot when I was real little, and no matter what, got stung by the honeybees in the yard. I still go barefoot at 60 years old, but I do it carefully! I love the feel of the grass and dirt on my feet and in the garden, I walk around it barefoot pretty much all the time, my form of earthing I guess. In the spring, summer and fall I wear sandals and only shoes when I absolutely have too, my feet get too hot.
The stinging of yellow jackets, splinters, walking up the holler to wade in the creek, mud between your toes are a few memories of going barefooted when I was growing up. Today these old feet are too soft to go barefoot. Just can’t do it!
Although it’s a rainy day we can still make it great. Blessings to all and continued prayers for your mother. God is good!
I always went barefoot all summer as a kid, and I still do it quite a bit. If I walk to our driveway and have to walk in the gravel, I have to do it carefully and slowly cause it hurts me now. Mostly I just stay barefoot in the house and on the porch. I can’t hardly stand to wear socks once May gets here—so my comfy sandals is all I will wear for a few months now. If I look back at old family photos taken in summer, my siblings and I are all barefoot. Yay for summer…and all the seasons in our WV mountains!
And all the guys are shirtless in those old photos!
We did the same. No shoes all summer long. Our feet were so tough even bubbled tar from the road didn’t phase them. For years the road by our house was gravel. Then the County put down a coating of tar. Not the pavement you see today but a sort of coating. In the summer that coating would bubble up due to the hot summer days. We would walk on that tar to go to the local mom and pop store. At night, before you could go into the house we had to wash it off with turpentine or gas. I’m surprised we didn’t spontaneously combust!
Never got though the summer without at least one bee sting. We would stop playing, yank the stinger out, mom would spray it with Bactine and as soon as the throbbing stopped we were back outside!
Even nearing 70, I hate shoes! I feel most comfortable and stable feeling the earth (or floor) under me feet. It’s been this way since childhood where no child wore shoes except in school. Truthfully, I don’t even like socks!
I have always removed my shoes, either at our home or other’s home. First the shoes, then the outer cloths then the ‘inner cloths’…lol It makes you feel free as a bird. So glad you and Granny are home. Please post another picture so we can really see how good she looks. Prayers for her and the rest of you guys.
I always enjoyed going barefoot, even now at 70 years old I never wear any type of shoe in the house, but no longer walk outside in the yard. The mention of tar and gravel roads, the roads would get so hot in the summer the tar would begin to melt. It seemed like I always had one sore foot either from briars, cuts, bruise, more often a nail stuck in foot or a stumped toe. I never went to the doctor, just tie a kerosene soaked rag around the cut or nail hole and go on without giving it a thought. I have soaked a sore foot or cut in epsom salt water. Maybe lucky but I never got lockjaw from any of this. I hate needles, now if asked, I always had a testiness shot last year.