It seems like each time we visit Aunt Nora, she’s in the kitchen cooking. She always has a basket of homemade biscuits sitting on the table. “I cook twelve biscuits every day and if Raleigh doesn’t eat them, the kids will, so they’re gone by the end of the day.”
Aunt Nora lives in a stone house north of Clayton, Georgia. She doesn’t live on a dirt road way back in the hills, but right on the highway next to a block building which she and her husband, Raleigh, owned and in which they operated a grocery store for many years. They sold out last year, but she still has many things to remind her of the store—cartons of Coke bottles stacked against the wall; the building itself; and an old cash register which they bought secondhand twenty-five years ago. The timeworn register is perched on an ancient cabinet, both cracked and peeled, showing the efforts of age and use. There is also an old meat-chopping block and a big black pot sits in the back yard.
It’s difficult to characterize Aunt Nora because so many “little things” make her unique. She has made quite an impression on me; I hope I am able to convey this to you. Aunt Nora has that loving kindness toward humanity that everyone should have. She’s not afraid to tell a person how much she cares about him, or to help a neighbor when he’s in need. Her faith in God is so amazing that she spreads His love to everyone without even realizing it.
—Foxfire 3
Today’s Thankful November giveaway is a used copy of Foxfire 3. To be entered in the giveaway leave a comment on this post. Giveaway ends November 9, 2025.
Last night’s video: Celebrating the First Fire & the Changing of the Seasons.
Tipper
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Tipper, I still enjoy you posting! Gotta have with my morning coffee. The fairy crosses remind me of my music trips to Ireland. “There be little people, and ye bloody well better believe”
This sounds like a very interesting read. Thank you for sharing with us.
I miss my mother’s biscuit.
Aunt Nora sounds like such a beautiful soul.
Aunt Nora sounds like an amazing lady. I would love to win this book.
Mama always made biscuits on the weekend when Daddy was with us. He was overseas with the army a lot until I was 15. We mostly ate cereal.
The Foxfire books sound super interesting. I love reading about the old ways.
I think I had an aunt Nora!❤️
My mother cooked on a wood stove all of her life. Evoshe made was delicious. She passed away in 1886 at the age of 82. I would love to receive a copy of the Foxfire book.
I don’t know how, but I missed this post on Nov. 5th. I like this story about Aunt Nora!
We need more Aunt Nora’s in the world! She seems like she was a sweet lady. I love the description of what an old country store would carry. 🙂
So beautiful.I would love to read more. Thank you so much for all that you share with us all.
I would like to read the Foxfire book series again. When I was young my Dad had the entire series of Foxfire books. I can remember reading some of the articles in them, especially on blacksmithing. I asked Dad what he did with the books but he can’t remember.
“Her faith in God is so amazing that she spreads His love to everyone without even realizing it.” I really needed this today. I have the entire set of Foxfire books bought many years ago but I somehow missed Aunt Nora’s story. Time to dig out my set and get to reading.
This is a short story about kindness. A young man who had worked for me several years earlier appeared at our front door one rainy night. He was very wet. He reminded me of what I had always said to my employees that if they ever needed any help to just ask for it. Well there he wad at my front door late at night asking for help. Well we gave him a spare pair of my pjs and dried off his clothes. The next morning we feed him bacon and eggs and asked him if he needed anything else like a ride. He said no that he would hitch hike his way back home. He thanked both my wife and I for our kindness.
As a side note this young man’s sister had won an essay contest about the president. A few months later his sister got to met the president in person. Both brother and sister were really nice youth. Kindness is always best. In 1 John 4 John talks about true love for each other. It would be a better world if we all did.
It’s so nice to read and remember old times when things were much simpler. Thank you Tipper. Love and prayers to all of you.
I find the Foxfire books at our local library here in Clinton, Tennessee. Also you can still find biscuits and gravy served at RM Brooks general store in Robbins Tennessee. If any BP&A readers watch John Ward’s Appalachian Channel, he visits RM Brooks general store quite often.
I love the Foxfire books. So many things get lost in the day to day of yesteryear as our modern lives fly by us so quickly.
Biscuits and gravy were a staple for breakfast on the farm growing up in West Virginia.
My husband and I used to read Fox Fire books in our younger married years, 1970’s, and dreamed of what it would be like to be independent like the early Appalachian ancestors. I think I have an old soul in me, and he just liked his privacy and garden. I lived in a town of 300 in Iowa before moving south, and now I’m in a town of 1,000 but it’s still way fewer people than a big city!! I’ll just hope my name is drawn for this book if I don’t get any of the others. God’s blessings on you all!
I would love to read this book then pass it on for others to read, Thanks Tipper.
I also had an Aunt Nora who ran a grocery in the country. After her husband passed, she ran the store all by herself for many years until she could no longer manage it.
Biscuits. Instant memories of my dad making biscuits and gravy and fried apples. I can’t imagine making a dozen every morning. I guess that’s a sign of the times. I haven’t read any Fox Fire books in years. They are so full of good advice and lessons to follow.
I am afraid if I were to bake 12 biscuits a day, knowing how I enjoy the taste, and living alone, I would be apt to decrease the number by tooooo many by myself!!
My grandma made the best biscuits ever. In fact, I thought everything she cooked was delicious. She made everything on an old wood cook stove. I remember her making biscuits for breakfast, dinner, and supper everyday. She worked hard from sunrise to sunset. I look back today and wonder how she did it. Her husband, my grandpa, was killed in 1950, and this left her with all responsibilities of taking care of her home and a small farm. Many of her ways remind me of things that happened in the “Foxfire” books. I have not read the third book but would like to read it. Thank you, Tipper, for carrying on the Appalacian culture. I enjoy BPA and also watching you and your family on YouTube. I’m praying for each of you, especially for sweet Granny.
I’ve only ever read the first foxfire edition and boy that was a long time ago now!! My cousin had a copy and we would read it together when I visited her back in the late 70s. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about all the old timey ways.
Tipper I am making your recipe for Roasted Red Pepper Soup tomorrow. I know it will be good.
Hope I win your giveaway!
Joanna Spears
Hi everyone. Soon be Veteran’s Day. Thanks to all who have served our country honorably and with a true dedication for our freedoms. Our country is or should be a nation of God, peace, security, prosperity and greatest of all, freedom. Again thanks to all our service members. Miss Tipper, Foxfire 3 sounds like my kind of book. Thanks for the chance or possibly to have such a book to read. Loved being there for the first fire of the season and seeing how beautiful the stove looked after a thorough cleaning by Matt. Little Ira there to help was the sweetest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Mini-Matt has such a good man as a role model. Truly. Have a great Wednesday everyone. Love and prayers for all that have needs and needs God’s grace, love and mercies. Amen
i love the foxfire series…i would love this copy
I remember reading Foxfire books from the early 1970’s. I really enjoyed reading the stories and seeing the photos of the past generations making tools and crafts that have been forgotten.
I have a fond memory of my uncle Lon. I thought we called him uncle because he was
old. I later learned that he really was my great-great uncle. He was very interesting. He wore the same type of clothes each day. He wore a low crown wide brim black felt hat and a matching black wool coat, black pleated wool pants and black brogans that were always shining. He always wore a starched long sleeve shirt and often had on a bolo tie. He even wore these “hot” clothes out in his garden. We could see him from a distance hoeing his garden. About lunch time the black coat came off. Often, we headed over to his place to get spring water. We always approached him to ask for the water. Once he scared us young kids when we saw him with that white shirt opened up and showing extremely white skin. Uncle Lon was born around 1875 and lived to be almost 100. Sometimes we visited him on his front porch. We sat with him
on an old wagon seat. He always had close at hand a handmade fly swatter made from a square piece of leather and a stick. We treasured those moments with Uncle Lon.
Darrell Cook
I would be so THANKFUL to receive this book. I love Fox Fire books. I don’t have this one. So many things things in the books remind me of home. My momma always made a BIG pan of biscuits every morning and a lot of times we ate breakfast for supper. I make a lot of biscuits myself, hence my email dramasbiscuits@gmail.com. God bless.
I won one of the Foxfire books from you a few years back. It is a treasured possession. My oldest brother had these books when I was growing up.
I would like to receive this!! By the way Tipper I truly enjoy the books you read to us on Celebrating Appalachia!!!!
Your story makes me remember a store in our neighborhood. It was owned by Mr. Harris and sponsored by the lions club. Mr Harris was blind. The store was next to his house and very small. We would spend our allowance of $1. A month there. This would go pretty far in the late 50’s. You could get a coke for 6 cents and a candy bar for a nickel. The drinks were in a ice box, you would open the top and pick out a cold drink. I always like the fruit flavor drinks, grape, strawberry, orange. Mr. Harris was a sweet man and always nice to us kids. I never thought about it when I was a kid, but this was in a neighborhood and no traffic but people that lived nearby. Definitely a place us kids could walk to.
First fire of the year but no footage of Matt cleaning the chimney!
Oh well, if Matt ‘polished’ the stove and built a bulkhead to stack more firewood, I’m well satisfied that he also cleaned the chimney.
It was great to see those healthy little fingers there to help Papaw, too.
My best to all the Wilson’s and Pressley’s.
I have not had the privilege to read the Foxfire books. I have heard so mucha bout them I know i would enjoy them.
Foxfire books remind you of the sweeter, simpler times. I was blessed to have an aunt who made some of the best biscuits I have ever eaten and as a young girl, when we visited with them, she always kept leftover biscuits in a loaf bread bag, and we hadn’t been there five minutes before I was whispering to daddy that I wanted a biscuit, too shy to ask her myself but she knew what I wanted so she would get a little plate and bring me a few. I loved her cold biscuits and still think about them after all these years.
I have a bit of knowledge about the setting for this article and the books it represents but I have already written most of it here over the past decade and a half. I don’t like being repetitive. If I do come up with something new and different before the day is out, it will have come from the deep recesses of my memory not because I just googled it.
It is so hard to find used copies of the Foxfire series. Thanks for the chance to acquire #3!
Biscuits everyday, yum!
Ms. Tipper,
I read the Foxfire series back in the 80’s. My husband was in a black powder gun club; we went to what the sport called a Rendezvous. We camped primitive style, wall tent, camp site, clothing and food or as close as we could get. A Trader suggested to me that I might get some ideas out of this book series. At one point I had them all. Wow! this brings back memories. What an awesome history resource. I remember talking with my grandparents the great stories they would tell. Yikes! rabbit hole!
As always, praying for Granny.
Back when the Foxfire stories were being gathered by students, good friends and neighbors of ours were some of the Ramey family from Rabun County. They had many stories of their own that they shared with us.
My mom, known by all as Lulu, was so much like Aunt Nora, She had that warmth and love for everyone, and people of all ages were drawn to her. I wish I had more of her traits! She passed in 2018 at age 94, and I miss her every single day.
Good morning Tipper, I was blessed to have an ‘Aunt Nora’ in my life! She was my dad’s baby sister. She passed away a few years ago and I miss her everyday. I enjoy reading your posts with stories from the Foxfire books.
We didn’t grow up having biscuits everyday but mom always had homemade bread on the table. I love making bread but it never tastes as good as her’s. We’re expecting snow today in central Alberta, it’s cold enough that’s for sure!
I guess when i was born a lot of the old ways were beginning to phase out or were about to start. I remember wood cookstoves, fireplaces (we used one in my early childhood) and plowing with horses and mules. I remember when Daddy got his first tractor. And a grandmother’s love is unique. How many grandmothers have been a safe haven where youngsters can just hang out and have a nonjudgmental friend. I know. I experienced it, and i’m married to one.
Aunt Nora reminds me of my dear sweet aunt Mina – she and her family of 6 lived in a small one-bedroom old house with an attic – but no matter the hour of the day or night anyone came knocking, she always welcomed them with open arms and her beautiful smile that reflected in her eyes as well – like she had just been waiting for you. Stay a few hours or a day or two – she had little but whatever she had she shared.
The Foxfire books are absolutely wonderful in describing how our parents, and grandparents grew their fields, took care of their animals, made soap, put up food, processed their pigs, hunted, maintained bee hives, carded cotton into strands and into thread, built buildings, made pottery, etc. I gifted my Daddy with a set many years ago. He’s in heaven now, if alive here he would be 110 years old. I remember Daddy telling me many times, especially, hog killing time, “that’s just how we did it.” Like I said those books are wonderful! By the way, my Mother made the best biscuits and milk gravy. And in my mind you can’t beat southern NE MS pork sausage. Oh my goodness, how I loved her cooking:)
That sparked memories of the small general store down the road when I was a child. And of course I love biscuits and Blind Pig!!
I loved the Foxfire book at my grandparents house. It takes my back to a different time I treasure the memories.
My grandparents always had biscuits on the table at breakfast and usually at dinner which they had midday and supper.
commenting just to say hey, but not entering the thankful november things. i have enough, more than enough, to be thankful for! but know that i may be quiet (!) but i’m still around.
I can see that place in my mind, thanks to the good writing. Tipper, I have made your biscuits and we love them!!
I love the Foxfire books!
I don’t recall ever reading any of the Foxfire books. They sound like an interesting read.
Would love to win!
She spread His love to everyone without realizing it. I love that! I know people like that, and they make the world a little more like heaven. Generosity and sharing what you have even if it is little are traits that seem rare today but are so beautiful when you see them. ❤️
Nora reminds me of the women in my life when I was growing up. They fed anyone who visited, helped anyone who needed it, and put God first. Please pray for all the folks who are affected by the UPS plane explosion. It’s a tragedy so close to home—not just the location, but also the company where I worked until I retired. I’m bracing for the names of those who were injured or lost their lives, as I knew and met so many of the pilots and crew while working at UPS and during my real estate career.
“Foxfire, is the bioluminescence created by some species of fungi present in decaying wood. The bluish-green glow is attributed to a luciferase, an oxidative enzyme, which emits light as it reacts with a luciferin.”
I’ve heard of Foxfire Books but thought it was an encyclopedia of glow-in-the-dark mushrooms.
The way the writer describes “Aunt Nora” has me picturing my Mammaw Coleman. She was a Godly woman who everybody loved. She passed away 36 years ago and I still miss her every day.
Tipper, I look forward to your post. They are the first thing look for and read when I open my email. I’m 76 years old and each day I read your post takes me back into a time past, which I am sure we’re the best days of my life. I have always enjoyed foxfire stories and tales. I wonder what has happened to the slower times when people cared for each other, then I think of the reason people are different now. We need more of Jesus in our country. Thank you for taking me back to memories of the good old days, and May God keep blessing you and your family.
P.S I have music of the Wilson Brothers that I listen to often.
Every time you share anything from Foxfire, I just love it! I can imagine that Aunt Nora was a very special lady! I’m thankful her memory is preserved.
Everyone should know an Aunt like that. Thank you for the smile this post gave me.
Foxfire books are books my dad use to read when we were kids. He would usually purchase his new editions each year when we went to Mammoth Cave National Park for Easter weekend.
The Foxfire books were a huge blessing and encouragement to me during a difficult time in my life. They inspired me as they pictured the simple way of life of the mountain folks. I’m thankful that there are still some folks like that in Appalachia, seeking to preserve those folkways, such as the entire Pressley/Wilson family! God bless you!
I’d like to have met Aunt Nora and learn a thing or two about not only love for my fellow man (Lord, that’s a challenge at best) but how to make biscuits that would all be gone by day’s end. The way to a happy family is good food prepared by loving, clean and mighty particular hands! God rest my mommy’s soul for I sure miss her and her cooking. The good news is every day I’m closer to her and further away from this old world… I’d give anything to hear her call my name to come in and eat just one more time…
Love ALL of your comment, Sadie. I am 78 and find myself remembering more and more often of when I was a little girl.
My mama did not make biscuits often, but she made amazing chicken and dumplings. Many times my sister and I stood by her side attempting to learn her way of making that she learned from her mother, but we never quite nailed down the flavor. One day I will hear her call to join her and daddy. I imagine their might be a big pot of mama’s chicken and dumplings on the Lord’s supper table!
I love making cheese biscuits for my family . I’m 82, so I’ve been making biscuits for a lot of years. It’s almost a lost art. I’ve tried your method with the cream and self rising flour. They are good and easy.
The first fire of the season was so fun to watch. Matt scares me with that axe, but he knows what he is doing!
Continued prayers for Granny
I have been infatuated with the Foxfire books for many years. I would love to be able to read #3. Love you & your family! As a cancer patient who lives alone, your voice is a daily part of my life. Sharing your lives makes mine so much better!
My Mama told me once that one of the things she remembered about her Mama (My Granny) was that she seemed to constantly be making biscuits. There were 8 children(5 boys and 3 girls) and my Grandaddy. She would get up early and make biscuits and the rest of breakfast. Everybody would go to work in the fields of whatever the crop was at the time. She would take a little nap and get up and make more biscuits for when they came in Dinner and make more that evening for Supper.
Good morning! I’ve heard of the foxfire books, but have never read them!
Sounds interesting.
I love Foxfire!
My mother in law had biscuits sitting out on the table which didn’t stay long. Foxfire books would be a good read
Loved reading the comments today. I’m ashamed to say, I have not read any of the Fox fire books but that’s gonna change real quick! Have a great day everyone and God bless!
I think it would definitely be a better world if we could all live and treat others as Jesus. With love, faith and hope for all.
Foxfire books are just the best! We gave my brother one every year. They draw you in and contain a wealth of information.
Wouldn’t a visit with Nora have been fun? I’m so happy these wonderful people are kept alive through the Foxfire books.
It was in the early seventies when the only store local to me (3.5 miles) installed a magazine/book rack at the front of the store near the door. I was somewhere between 7-9 years old, but knew that Hyatt’s Market was moving towards the modern era. Being that the “Foxfire Book” was published in 1972, this would have been about ’72-’74 and that translates into the years of 2nd – 4th grade for me. I bought that copy and have been a Foxfire fan and a lover of all things Appalachian since. I grew up surrounded by mostly wonderful kind-hearted folks who could have stepped from the pages of those books. I would not trade my “raisings” with any other person I know and I am most thankful for them. Enjoy the sunshine Tipper. You probably are in for some wonderful weather the next two days.
A few years ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Foxfire site in Rabun County, Ga. with a friend. The mountain landscape, cabins, and the hike were breath-taking. I encourage everyone to visit.
I agree! The Foxfire site is an amazing little Appalachian village and well worth a visit.
Enjoy all the posts about the mountains either from books or live stories. Pray all is well and as we are getting ready from this Thanksgiving time. God bless you all!!!!!!
Everyone needs an Aunt Nora ♥️
I’m currently pregnant with my first and our breakfast of choice has been a biscuit or cornbread and milk nearly since the beginning. The cream biscuits recipe from your cookbook is in HEAVY rotation in this house lol!
Shannon, congratulations! I will be praying for a good delivery 🙂
Thank you so much!!
I received one of the Foxfire books a few years ago and enjoyed remembering a lot of my younger years as I read it. I don’t remember which number as I passed it on to a friend. I had an aunt that always had biscuits and a jar of jelly on the table all day. If a few didn’t get eaten the dog outside the door got them the next morning when she baked a new batch.
I worked in an old store like that when I was younger.
There should be more Aunt Nora’s in the world.
Your post and a cup of coffee start my morning. Love the Foxfire books.
What a wonderful legacy Aunt Nora left her family.
I have yet to read a Foxfire book, but I moved to east Tennessee (husband is from here) and now I need to catch up. My best to the Pressley family!
When it comes to cooking, Aunt Nora sounds like my hubby’s Grandma Mary. It didn’t matter the time of day, you could drop by anytime and find something to eat waiting. Sundays were her specialty. On Sunday, she always had loaves of homemade bread, baked chicken that fell off the bone, and lasagna or spaghetti. She made it just to make sure everyone that stopped by could fill their tummy’s with good food and their hearts with love and good fellowship.
Aunt Nora sounds like a wonderful lady. God bless!
I love the Foxfire books & project. These things should never be forgotten.
I really enjoyed the Foxfire books back in the 70s…a good time (Thanksgiving) to reminesce…
I look forward each morning to reading your post for the day. I remember the Foxfire books from back in my 20s when my life was all about the back to the land way of life. Your post has renewed an interest in pulling out the old collection.
Wouldn’t it be a better world if we all loved and lived that way each day. I think biscuits are a great way to start and share that love!
Biscuits are something you need to make daily to be good at doing. I bet those biscuits were some of the best in Clayton County!
It’s not Clayton County. It’s the town of Clayton in Rabun County, Georgia. Clayton County is south of At-lanta. The town of Clayton is in the mountains up near the North Carolina line.
I was just sitting here thinking about Aunt Lena showing me her way of making biscuits and her expecting me to be able to replicate that from then on. Trouble was, I did not keep on making them often enough and all that wonderful knowledge washed on under the bridge.
keep on keeping on!
Diana Lee Parten
a Kentuckian with Alabama in my blood, currently living in Wilder Idaho
Aunt Nora sounds like someone that used to be characterized as “The Salt of the Earth” when I was growing up in the mountains of Northeast Tennessee.
I have been enjoying your posts for some time now. When I was first out of my service in the US ARMY 82nd Airborne, going back to further my education at Wake Forest University was high priority……..or so I thought. First stop was a Community College for refresher courses. It was there I found fascination with a book you mentioned in today’s post.
Foxfire Project:
Eliot Wigginton (born Brooks Eliot Wigginton on November 9, 1942) is an American oral historian, folklorist, writer and former educator. He is most widely known for developing with his high school students the Foxfire Project, a writing project consisting of interviews and stories about Appalachia. The project was developed into a magazine and series of best-selling Foxfire books. The series comprised essays and articles by high school students from Rabun County, Georgia focusing on Appalachian culture. In 1987, Wigginton was named “Georgia Teacher of the Year,”[1] and in 1989, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.[2]
Dan, thank you for your service!
Dan, my brother in law was in the 82nd Airborne and stationed at Fort Bragg in 1973-1974.
Foxfire books are great reads.
I would like to read this book. When I was growing up, both mother and daddy would get up early enough and work together to see that we would have a good breakfast before leaving for school or daddy for his work. This would be biscuits, grits, eggs, and some type of pork meat. My favorite breakfast was biscuits, fried fatback and gravy (hunky doo to us) made using the fatback grease. We never ate toast or cornflakes or canned biscuits for breakfast back in those days. Think about it, the only thing bought and not grown by us was the flour and grits.