Every January I study on what I’d like to accomplish on the Blind Pig and The Acorn in the coming year. First and foremost I’d like to continue to celebrate and preserve my rich Appalachian culture and heritage. Come March I will have been blogging about Appalachia for 13 years, a length of time which is almost unheard of in the world of blogging.

Here’s the plans I had for 2020 and how things turned out.

  • I’d like to get the girls and The Deer Hunter to contribute to the blog with their own posts like Paul does. I think I succeeded on this one and I didn’t even have to hog-tie anybody 🙂 The Deer Hunter wrote several posts as did Chitter, and Chatter at least wrote one!
  • I enjoy talking about the language of Appalachia so I’m always wanting to figure out how to talk about it more. I achieved this one by starting a new YouTube Channel and have been able to reach even more people.
  • I’d like to say 2020 will be the year I add a premium feature to the Blind Pig and The Acorn, but I’ve wanted that to happen for about three years now. I do aim to make progress on the goal this year. With the rising costs of managing a website figuring out how to make enough money to cover the costs has become a necessity. My Youtube Channel was a big step at achieving this long time goal. Now that I’ve reached their set threshold I can start monetizing my videos. I’ve really been torn about making money off my passion of celebrating Appalachia, but I have to make ends meet and as I said last year the cost of managing a website increases each year. I toyed around with starting a membership for the Blind Pig and The Acorn and was headed in that direction until I realized if I was able to monetize my videos as a source of income I could continue to offer the Blind Pig and The Acorn for FREE!
  • I’m finally working on a cookbook. Or I should say the beginnings of what we hope will be a cookbook. Jim Casada is actually the workhorse behind the endeavor and he is generously pulling me along behind him for the ride. I’ll share more information about the project in the coming months. The project Jim and I were working on fell through with the publisher, but we’re still thinking about a cookbook. I did make my first eCookbook but I haven’t started selling it yet.
  • I’m always hoping to meet more of you. I was fortunate to meet several Blind Pig readers in 2019. COVID made sure this one didn’t happen as often as I wished it had this year!
  • I’ll be teaching at John C. Campbell Folk School in August of 2020 so be on the lookout for those details if you’d like to take the class. I promise we’ll have great fun and eat good food 🙂 The COVID related cancellation of classes at JCCFS ensured this plan went awry.

Plans for 2021

  • I hope to publish more posts written by The Deer Hunter, Chatter, Chitter, and guest posters.
  • Make more videos! I’ve really enjoyed the format of video. I especially enjoy creating the videos which share a glimpse of our daily life. I want to do more interviews and “how to” videos this year as well.
  • Continued growth of my YouTube Channel as a source of income is high on my list of things to accomplish in 2021. Every little bit of money helps with the upkeep and hosting of Blind Pig and The Acorn. Hard to believe but lots of folks make their entire living from YouTube.
  • Selling my eCookbook as well as a couple of other eBooks is on my list.
  • I’m scheduled to teach Mountain Flavors at John C. Campbell Folk School June 27 – July 3. Here’s the details: Mountain Flavors— Traditional Appalachian Cooking • Tipper Pressley  Experience the traditional Appalachian method of cooking, putting up, and preserving the bounty from nature’s garden. Receive hands-on training to make and process a variety of jellies, jams, and pickles for winter eating. You’ll also learn the importance of dessert in Appalachian culture and discover how to easily make the fanciest of traditional cakes. A final day of bread making will produce delicious biscuits and cornbread. All levels welcome. For more information call 828-837-2775.

I hope each of you will continue to visit Blind Pig and The Acorn during 2021. And if you know someone who might enjoy the blog or the videos, please send them my way.

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22 Comments

  1. Hello Tipper! We watch your videos every day and love them. I love your Christmas china, will you share the pattern name? I would SO love to find the large beverage pitcher shone this month in your kitchen!

  2. Tipper,
    I came upon your Youtube channel this morning and now onto your blog here. I cried listening to you on Youtube and watching the old ways, as my Daddy’s people are from Appalachia as well. He instilled in all of us the ways and language of his people. You are the real deal as one person has said here. When I looked at you I thought we may be related, don’t laugh as I know the kidding the city folk gave me growing up… we are all related from the hills. Maybe so. When you said the saying, ” beat your brains with your tongue it was so good” that my Daddy would say all the time. Here is another couple he would always and still does say to all of us,”root hog or die” and he always says when I leave his home or talk on the phone “biddabee”. one of my friends asked me why does he say that and what does it mean. I could only reply, “it is his way of saying, I love you, see you later, God’s speed, come back soon, and safe travels all rolled into one phrase.” Keep doing the Youtube you are a natural. I want to buy the cookbook as well when you publish. I can only hope you put fried poke stalk in there that i grew up eating that Daddy would pick. God Bless you and keep you and your family!
    Jill

  3. I’ll definitely get in line to buy your ebook cookbook… or a printed one. May the nice folks at John C. Campbell Folk School will let you video tape this summer’s class to sell on your blog or via Youtube. I’m in my late 70s and 3000+ miles away, but this NC boy learned a little cookin’ form his aunts and is always interested in expanding his cooking skills. I can’t just run out of a local diner that fixes real food out here, so I have to cook it myself. Thanks for all the BP&S daily taste of home. God bless you for keeping real food and real people alive.

  4. What Margie Goldstein said: ditto. (Thanks, Margie). I began reading your blog way back in early days and now cannot retire for the day without my “dose” of BPA. It is my favorite blog. And now the videos are delightful. I had wanted for so long to hear your voice and see your photo; the videos are perfect. Love the interviews, too, and the participation by the family. It’s a real quality blog. Just a thought: if you were to provide a mailing address, some of us might like to shower you with thank you gifts. Thank you for all the hours and efforts and care you pour into this blog. Thank you, too, for providing a home for this beautiful community. I love the comments and interactions.

    1. Linda-thank you for the kind words! You can reach me at Tipper Pressley PO Box 83, Brasstown, NC 28902. I’ll add the address on the blog too.

  5. I’ve been reading your blog for years, most of the time I read in Bloglovin but majority of the time I click to come straight to the blog because I don’t want to miss comments…lol
    I’ve been enjoying your YouTube channel very much…I didn’t grow up in Appalachia mountains but the foothills of Blue Ridge mountains close to the north central part of NC….I now live in Florida & hubby & I vacation in Robbinsville, NC and ride the motorcycle through the beautiful Appalachia mountains…

    I’m looking forward to a cookbook and like a reader commented below, it would be awesome if it was a story telling book along with recipes, too…. I have a cookbook like that from Appalachia writer, Jan Karon…it’s a beautiful book…
    Of course, a simple cookbook is great too……I guess I just love hearing the stories you tell…
    Hugs Brenda

  6. Good luck on the coming year and as a devoted reader I look forward to many more stories and life lessons.

  7. 2020 was quite a year but, as always, your blog gave me something besides a temperature check to look forward to. We’ve enjoyed the videos and Alex has been watching the Girls channel more now that the weather has turned.

    I think I say this every January, but thank you and your work is much appreciated.

  8. I love your blog! It’s like homemade soup that’s “got a little of this and a little of that” and because it’s from the heart with love, it’s the best and quite delicious not to mention soothing and homemade which is the highlight of many a hillbilly’s day! There’s no shame in monetization especially in these days! I do hope you provide a PO BOX or alternate method besides PayPal which many will not utilize (especially myself.) I like it very much when your family posts! You’re all very interesting characters and much loved and cheered for! I would love if you make a cookbook! Many young homemakers could use it and a few of us older ones too!!! I say WRITE IT AND THEY WILL COME!!! Tipper, you just have a way about you everybody loves and wants to see what you are up to and into making the world a better place!!! God bless you Pressley!!!

  9. Speaking of cookbooks, have you ever heard of, or read, a book by Rick Bragg… The Best Cook in the World? Here’s the Google description:
    Part cookbook, part memoir, The Best Cook in the World is Pulitzer Prize-winner Rick Bragg’s loving tribute to the South, his family and, especially, to his extraordinary mother. Here are irresistible stories and recipes from across generations. They come, skillet by skillet, from Bragg’s ancestors, from feasts and near famine, from funerals and celebrations, and from a thousand tales of family lore as rich and as sumptuous as the dishes they inspired. Deeply personal and unfailingly mouthwatering, The Best Cook in the World is a book to be savored.

    1. Donna. I did not know know about Rick Bragg’s cookbook, but have read some of his other books and articles in Southern Living magazine. In one article, he tells of his mother asking for grease on her birthday. Want she wanted was fresh pork meat to render into lard. For the ones that don’t know Rick Bragg , he is a true son of the south that has lived it and knows what he writes about. He was raised in northeast Alabama.

      1. The book isn’t much so a cookbook as it is about a man’s love for his mother. There are recipes, one or two at the end of each chapter: his mom didn’t use recipes, so he persuaded her to show him or tell him how she made various dishes. But the stories he tells in those pages are priceless.

  10. Tipper, I am one of the new members of your blog, about 4 months now. I learned of your blog through something Jim Casada had wrote. Even though I don’t live in Appalachia, as a blue blood country boy, I found I have a lot in common with your way of life in both present time and the past times. I truly enjoyed reading your blog each day and hope you can accomplish your goals.

  11. We are the old-timers in the blogging world – Survivalcommonsense.com is 11 years old. The average lifespan of a wilderness survival blog is about 18 months, so I’m proud of that.
    Videos are becoming one of last ways to generate income from a blog. In the good ole days, I had several paying sponsors I could rely on to help pay the cost of running the site. Time change, and now, finding a sponsor is really hard.
    I love your videos, and what your site does to preserve the culture of Appalachia!

  12. Thank you, your family and your friends for the effort and passion you put in to making the Blind Pig and the Acorn a gre as t blog! Your You Tube videos have also been entertaining and educational. I look forward to seeing your blog every day.

    I am signed up for a JCCFS class August 1-7 and will make it a point to stop in and say hi

  13. All things considered, and by that I mean Covid-of course, I think you’ve made great progress on your goals! You know how to get things done…you just keep walking come hell or high water, and we’ve had both!
    Your video’s are a wonderful addition, they really go a long way in expanding your original goals. Your live voice is a picture all it’s own.
    I am close enough to see and know you are the real deal, and that’s a rare thing in this day in time!
    So, congratulations on a year well done, in spite of all the obstacles presented by this world wide epidemic!
    And…A big Thank You!

    1. Tipper , your the best at all you do. Since I left the beautiful Mountains on North Carolina for Texas I am missing out on your post due to my own fault. This is 2022 and my love for all the Wilson’s of talented musicians and you has never changed . Texas is wide but my love for all of you is bigger than all of Texas. I deem myself honored to have see you and all your lovely family. As many of your friends remember Truman who worked at the folk school for 13 years as Maintain Supervisor. Thanks you precious for all you done for others

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