Wow where did 2015 go? It seems only yesterday I was telling you about the goals I had planned for the Blind Pig & the Acorn during the new year of 2015-and now 2015 is gone and behind us.
I’ve been thinking about the new ground I’d like to cover during the year of 2016 here on the blog.
- I’m still working on the idea I shared with you last January-the idea of celebrating Appalachia in a bigger way and it involves the voices of people like you and me. I hope to make significant progress on this project during the coming year…but I had those same hopes last January so we shall see.
- Would you like to HEAR me say those Appalachian Vocabulary Words each month? That’s an idea I’m working on.
- I’m still excited about the Blind Pig & the Acorn Etsy Shop and Chitter’s Etsy Shop Stamey Creek Creations. Chitter has been playing around with making more Appalachian Old Home Place Jewelry. I’m hoping the jewelry can become a staple in her shop in the coming year.
- Chatter has been recording Pap talking about his life. They started at his earliest memories and where he his family lived when he was born. I hope to share those special recordings with you.
- Chatter and I plan to make a real medicinal herb garden this year. You may remember we gave it a go last year, but this year we plan to put a little more effort into our endeavor and hope to see much better results.
- Do any of you remember my spot light on music a few years ago? I’m think of doing it all again… maybe even the guitar giveaway part and maybe a giveaway of a free personal concert from the Blind Pig Gang.
I’m excited for this new year of 2016. I believe it will be a banner year for the Blind Pig & the Acorn-and I sure hope each of you stick around for the ride.
Tipper
I enjoy the Appalachian Vocabulary. I enjoy the stories and the elder’s reminiscing. I enjoy the crafts, the gardening tips, the music and the recipes, and I enjoy the history lessons.
(Sounds pretty much like I enjoy it all. Shoulda just said that in the first place. LOL)
God bless.
RB
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Great goals! I hope you will include some ‘receipts’ for medicinal cures/treatments when your herb garden ‘comes in.’ (“Receipts” is the word my great-grandmother Dyer used for what we call “recipes.”) Hey, maybe that can be an Appalachian word!
BTW thanks for the mentions about my storytelling class at the Folk School in early February. And if you want me to write up some more memories, I could talk about helping my younger uncle Troy with feeding the furnace at syrup makin’ time, helping cut firewood on the big circle saw, or helping with hog killing time.
Tipper, your blog is an important part of the record of Appalachian life–not just the old ways but also the Appalachia of today and the way we live now. Anything you do here will be adding more layers on a durn good stack cake 🙂
Your blog is a treasure, even for those of us whose connections to the mountains may be many, many generations away. Thank you for sharing your curiosity, your research, your knowledge, your skills, your many talents, and your family with all of your readers.
Your’s is not the best blog I read, it is the only blog I read other than my own and you have me beat by a country mile. I too, am looking forward to another year of new stuff, old stuff and new old stuff.
I particularly like the idea of attaching a sound file to your Appalachian Vocabulary Words. That will do much to explain how our Appalachian dialect is really unique.
Yes, Tipper, if you don’t have this book, Joe Dabney’s “Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, & Scuppernong Wine: The Folklore and Art of Southern Appalachian Cooking,” do get it…..great one!
I really enjoy reading your blog….it’s like getting to sit and visit with you about many of the things I also enjoy.
Keep up the great work!
Tipper–If you haven’t already don so, you need to analyze what seem to be your most popular topics and give heavy emphasis to them. For me personally vocabulary, traditional folkways, gardening, cooking, and storytelling come towards the top of the list.
I’m going to echo several others and tell you that you need to get cracking on a cookbook. As I’ve said before, and I’ll put the pressure on by saying it again, I’ll help in any way I can. Since Ann and I have done seven or eight of them, and I contribute the food stuff for two Internet blogs, I think I’ve got some handle on it. Mind you, my focus is narrow–almost totally game, fish, and wild foods–but I think the basics of doing a cookbook hold true no matter what the subject. I know you, having asked you this past weekend, that you don’t own a copy of Joe Dabney’s “Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, & Scuppernong Wine: The Folklore and Art of Southern Appalachian Cooking,” but you need to have it (Miss Cindy, there’s a gift hint for you!). You are perfectly capable of doing something similar, and once you read it (and it’s more than just recipes) you’ll know what I mean. I bet some of your “regulars” like B. Ruth and Ethelene are familiar with it.
Incidentally, Dabney died just a few weeks ago.
Whatever road you travel, I want you to know that I’ll be going along the Blind Pig route with you, a-reading as I go.
Jim Casada
One of my cousins recorded a couple of sessions with my Gramdmother McLain in 1978. She passed away that year at age 94. I treasure my copy of those recordings as a first-hand account of life in my grandmother’s time. I would very much encourage Chatter to get Pap’s thoughts on a recording. All of your family and a significant number of friends will value it. There are many times when I wish this late-twenties guy in the seventies had taken more one-on-one time with my grandmother. There are a lot of questions I would love the opportunity to ask!
God bless you in all your endeavers…always. I know you will suceed.
“Sounds” like a great 2016. Looking forward to it.
Tipper,
You sure have impressed me with your knowledge and outlook on life. I never dreamed of all the Appalachian events you always talk about, but I’m here for you. This is my favorite blog and I’m honored to live in the same county as your wonderful family…Ken
Great ideas! I look forward to another year of reading about Appalachia each morning.
I love it all, especially the Appalachian vocabulary. Keep up the good work.
Great ideas! However, I am still hoping for that cookbook of the ever so many recipies you have shared over the past years. I think it would be a very welcomed useful kitchen tool. Oh! I really like the picture at the beginning of this post!
Looking forward to another exciting BP year! I”m sure it’s going to be a great one.
Paula-thank you for the lovely comment! Makes me feel so good to know you enjoy the Blind Pig : ) If you scroll all the way down the page to the bottom you’ll see Next written in red with an arrow on the right side-that will take you backwards through the blog like the controls on the top of the old site did : ) Have a wonderful day!!
I love these ideas — and having been a participant in a lovely evening of Blind Pig music in your home — I know this would be a beautiful giveaway —– Love and prayers from chilly North Georgia —- deer season is over here so now maybe we can join you ladies and your hunter again soon.
My humble vote is for the music and folklore. I enjoy all the posts but especially those that connect us with the past. I hope you have a successful and healthy 2016 and beyond.
Tip, those are all great ideas, I just have one question. Where do you find time to generate ideas. You are busy every minute of every day. You work, keep house, cook, help your parents, practice music, garden, can, and are very conscientious about spending quality time with your daughters?
All I can say is, if there is anything I can do to help bring these ideas to fruition, I’m willing.
I think it’s going to be grand year!
Dear Tipper, All of your ideas for 2016 sound exciting. I thought I would mention some of my favorite things on your blog. I love the stories of people who have lived that I would never have known about but for your research (Maggie Colette Martin, Pearl whose last name I forgot, etc.). That brings up something else I wanted to ask you about. I used to be able to navigate on your site by using the two arrows on the top of the screen allowing you to go back or forward, all the way to the first post you ever did. Now, I can’t do that. Would it be possible to restore that function? Also, I love your posts on Appalachian things like fat wood, lumbering, cooking, canning, etc. I love the little views of your family life, I love the gardening posts. Actually, I love all of it. Please keep up the fascinating work you do. May the Lord bless you and your loved ones.
Tipper,
I love all the ideas you posted today. I love the idea of the Appalachian pronunciation of the vocabulary words….Fun indeed! Also, throw in a few phrases as well. For instance, “I nearly always carry Granny to town on a’Saturday. It hopes her out some when we’re a help’in tote in the
groceries,” ha
The medicinal garden is an idee as well….However, a lot of the plants you will have to forage for, they just can’t be transplanted and grow just anywhere…light, shade, as well as soil condition, moisture and other companion plants and don’t forget elevation even if it is slight change matters…
Music is always on the top of my list too.
I hope also the Itsy Stores continue to be successful, I know they will!
Interviews with Pap is a shore winner….
Voices of Appalachia from families with real hand-me-down tales, traditions and legends.
Thanks Tipper….looking forward to this year.
PS…Don’t forget the recipes, receipts and the way our forefathers cooked and prepared food….for a lot of folks still do it the same way! ha
What an exciting year you have planned. I Am interested in your medicinal garden.
What an exciting year you have planned. I Am interested in your medicinal garden.
What an exciting year you have planned. I Am interested in your medicinal garden.
What an exciting year you have planned. I Am interested in your medicinal garden.
Tipper, if you haven’t already done so, write down the words that the girls said when they played jump rope, as well as directions of games that the children play. I learned to play “London Bridge” much different from what other people played. Yes, I’ve written both of these items down to be passed to my daughter.
Hazel Rawls Carr (originally from Rocky Mount, NC)