We also liked to run and play around in the woods. We were all the time chewing the leaves of a plant we called mountain tea. It didn’t grow very tall but it was just as green as could be. All of us would put a few of the leaves in our mouths and chew them. It tasted like teaberry gum. We swallowed the juice and then spit out the leaves trying to imitate the way men and some of the women would spit out their tobacco juice.
We did a lot of things that would seem pretty strange to kids now. We’d chew on the inner birch bark. Why, that birch sap tasted real good. We even used to chop big ol’ places in birch trees and then get down and lick the sap. We liked chestnut sap too. One time Papa was building a fence rail out of chestnut logs. After he’d cut the logs to the size he wanted them, Burl and I would peel off the bark on one side and then we’d crawl down and lick all of the sap off. When we finished with that side, we’d then turn the log, peel the other side, and lick that one.
When we played up in the woods, we would make jump ropes out of grape vines. Two of us would hold the ends and swing the vine and the others would jump. When you missed, you would have to hold the vine. Sometimes when the vine hit you just right, it would knock your feet right from under you.
Whenever we found a strong vine, we would cut one end loose and grab onto the end hanging from the tree and swing. Sometimes our weight would pull the vine right out of the tree and we would land on our bottoms. Of course, our favorite way to swing was out over the edge of a steep bank. This was a lot more fun than swinging in a flat place. Sometimes we would swing out over a bank where we would actually be at the tops of the trees in the valley below us. We loved doing that. We never did think about just how dangerous that could be, but naturally, our papas did and they didn’t like us doing that at all. They would warn us about swinging out over the banks or across gullies, but they never did find out who was doing the swinging. Whenever Papa or one of the neighbors found a swinging vine, they would cut it off. They couldn’t seem to stop us and they were afraid that we’d get killed. It’s a wonder someone didn’t.
—Letters to Lori – The Family History and Stories of Opal Corn Myers written by Barbara League
Today’s Thankful November giveaway is a copy of Letters to Lori The Family History and Stories of Opal Corn Myers written by Barbara League. To be entered in the giveaway leave a comment on this post. Giveaway ends November 16, 2025.
Last night’s video: Saving Our Harvest from the Cold.
Tipper
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Loved the focus on green beans. Whenever I visited my Granny, the smell of green beans was always in her house. I thought she was the green bean queen. She was either picking them, stringing them, cooking them, canning or drying them. I can still hear the pressure cooker singing in her kitchen. She has been gone since 1978 but that memory is still alive.
I enjoy listening to you read. I loved hearing about the life of Opal. Would love to have a copy of her book.
Teaberry leaves were a favorite of mine when I was growing up. Wish I could find some now. Thank you for Thankful November.
Those grape vine swings were the cause of several I heard tell of having their collar bones broken. I swung on a gate or a homemade wooden swing held up by braided grass strings!
I played lots of different games with my friends and cousins, especially hide and seek. We had a small ranch so there were lots of places to hide.
Such wonderful days the writers of these books recall. Thanks for bringing them to all of your readers and thanks for your readings of them. The deer meat made my mouth water. Matt should have regular teaching classes on the how to-s of preparing wild meat. All foods. Those huge white sweet potatoes looked delicious too. If I get the chance, next summer, I’m going to try and make the pickled corn and bean relish. Y’all have a great day. Tell your momma we sure miss her and hope she’s having a great day today. Sure hope she’ll be up to being with y’all on Thanksgiving. She’d love seeing all the babies and all her family. Prayers for her being able to. God bless everyone today, tomorrow and always.
We kids swung on grapevines whenever daddy would let us. There was a holler and two close hills together. We would swing from one side to the other. Now I think that was really dangerous. We loved it.
Hi Tipper! I was thinking the November give away’s were done. I guess my mind is going. I would enjoy reading any of the Appalachian memoirs you share. It’s amazing how these people made do with so little, yet they were happy and healthy. How interesting would it be to talk to someone from the 1880’s! I’m hoping you do another interview of an elderly man or woman soon. I enjoyed the previous ones. Hoping Granny is doing good or at least in not much pain. What a sweet woman she is!!! May God bless each and every family member and all your many fans!!
When I was young we’d find a vine on the creek bank and cut it then swing out over the creek. Many times the vine would pull loose from the tree and we’d end wet but was part of the fun.
Oh how I loved this book that you read to us Tipper! I sure was sad when it ended.❤️
I have always heard God looks out for children and fools. I think some of today’s comments confirm it. I think if many of us were honest, most of us were careful to not get too carried away. It was not the Castrol oil we were afraid of, it was a dose of “hickory tea.” Wasn’t those time some of the best times of our lives, today’s children miss out on so many simple pleasures.
i remember as a kid just walking thru the woods just to be walking…now around here saddly the woods are being cleared out for more developments,,, then i also remember we would take 2 leaves and pin them together with a small stick or twig and add more leaves to it then when we had enough to go around our head that was our make belief hat lol,,,,
I’m 62 years old. I grew up in a rural setting. We sure had fun as kids. I still live in the same small town, but life has changed dramatically. I miss all of my relatives who have passed. I never envisioned myself as ‘the older generation’.
Ouch! getting hit by that grapevine on the ankles or the feet would really have hurt. As always enjoyed hearing about what you did growing up.
This was another enjoyable book and it was made even better by your reading, Tipper. I had playhouses in the woods with moss carpet, didn’t swing on grapevines but expect my brothers did. I do remember drinking the juice of honeysuckle and making dolls of four o’clock flowers. Recently, as I demonstrated doll making at a museum E Tn for hundreds of kids on field trips, I noticed some carrying sticks of all sizes they had picked up along the paths in the woods. It was fun to see them playing tag and other games in the grassy areas after their picnic lunch. I’m so glad they had this opportunity to not only see how people lived years ago but to enjoy making up games and enjoying the outdoors. Given the opportunity, children today can make up simple games and play as past generations did.
I never heard of mountain tea but I do remember chewing on sassafras twigs. They had a wonderful spicy sweet flavor.
Oh, what fun it was to be a kid! I remember swinging from vines, climbing trees, taking tobacco twine and tying it around trees to make a playhouse for me and the neighborhood girls. Wonderful childhood memories!
I didn’t have sap to pick from a branch or log but I sucked the nectar from Mexican Turks Cap. The kind I find in nurseries now have short blossoms but the ones I grew up with were long & full of honey sweet nectar.
Swinging on vines sounds delightful. The only vines I recall in the tip of Texas were bindweeds which would strangle the citrus trees and various ivy which became wild in the far South Texas climate of the 1950s &’60s.
Even so, I loved to swing on the various rope contraptions Dad would hang from the large trees in the yard.
Childhood throughout the nation & the world holds many similar experiences varied by the environment and available materials.
I am so thankful that you and your family share pieces of your life in Appalachia with all of us. It is a blessing and a small respite from the rat race we call life. Love to all including Paul and Granny.
My 2 sisters and I did a lot of dangerous things growing up in the country and in the woods .being tomboys with our 3 boy cousins who lived just up the road. We wanted BB guns but didn’t get them and the cousins shared.
Isn’t it nice to get your porches all clean and ready for just hanging out!
Have a blessed day❣️
Prayers for your sweet Granny
just hanging out there?
First I had heard of licking chestnut sap. ‘Course chestnut was gone before I came along. Wish she had written what it tasted like. Also wish mountain tea (winterberry) grew here but I’ve never seen any in Georgia. I would love to have some growing here as a ground cover. I do have pippsesiwa (Grandma called it “rat’s vein”) that just appeared on its own and has slowly spread. It’s growth habit is much like mountain tea, about 4-6 inches high. As to playing in the woods- the saying is, country. kids do “work their angels
overtime” getting into dangerous situations; grapevine swings being just one.
As usual your posts brings back memories of things I haven’t thought of in years! Growing up in the 50’s we played outside all day. We lived in small town Albemarle. Behind
Out house was 3 vacant lots and we called this the woods. We had paths thru the woods, a basketball goal and section we used for a house with leaf walls.
I returned home in 2010 and live beside my parents house. They have past away and my brother lives there now. The woods were very grown up and for years too thick to walk thru. After all these years being vacant, the lots were sold. And 3 houses built.
My mama told me stories of her and her neighbor friends playing in the woods when they were little and they did the same things. She said they were always on the hunt for good sturdy vines to swing on or something to sit on to slide down steep hills covered with pine needles. Sounds like fun to me!
I’ve never tasted “mountain tea”, but I like teaberry gum so I would probably like it. I’ve also never tasted birch sap or chesnut sap. I don’t think I would have ever been brave enough to swing on a vine period. Let alone one that swung out over an embankment. I’ve never been too much of a risk taker.
Yikes! What a story. Of course as kids we don’t think clearly and it is amazing what thrills we have all lived through.
Lori’s book sounds wonderful! I can relate to a lot of the stories.
When I think of the things my siblings and I did growing up in the sixties! Insane chances that we took. What fun we had, lol.
As always, praying for Granny.
Loved the grapevine story.
I would never have even considered licking sap off of a log. Maybe I would have tried chewing those leaves. The only things I actually did along those lines was to suck the droplets of sweet nectar from honeysuckle blooms and sample the pulp inside ripe May apples, which we called “maypops.”
Gene, it has been many years since I saw a “may pop” if we are thinking about the same thing. What I knew as a maypop grew and on a vine and looked similar to a cucumber.
Dear Tipper,
The craziest thing I did as a boy with my younger brother was to cover the creek with lighter fluid, ignite it and then swim under the burning water. My parents never heard about that foolishness. That was almost 70 years ago.
Please don’t reveal this story to my grandkids.
Blessings,
Starr Lawson
Starr-that sounds exactly like Darren one of my cousins 🙂
Starr, none of us kids in my neck of the woods had lighter fluid back in the 50-60’s, we would have had to use gasoline if we had thought of doing something like that. Most of the creeks we played in were not deep enough to swim in. I spent many hours fishing in these creeks with a short pole for horney head minnows often times with a hook made from a safety pin. I was as happy doing this as I could be.
Good morning, would love to win this!
It’s been a rough time around here lately. BPaTA is a blessing to me. So much goodness. Thank you for what you do, Tipper.
This was an interesting story by Barbara League! I never heard of sap licking or vine jumping. lol. But, I didn’t grow up in that same environment. If I had been there back then, I would have given it a try. Congratulations to Matt on his deer kill. Does he have a video on how he prepares the deer meat for cooking? It looked like the meat was tender and delicious. I have a steak recipe that calls for slicing the meat into thin strips, mixing in a teaspoon of baking soda, and letting it set for only 15 minutes to tenderize, then rinsing the meat well and drying with a paper towel. If you happen to leave the baking soda on longer, it can break down the meat fibers, causing it to be mushy. That was a job well done on cleaning your nice porch. Thank you for sharing your day with us.
Betty, here’s video where he talks about cleaning the meat as he works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGuqN_XyuA4&t=3s
I’ll be watching this video today. Thank you, Tipper!
Thanks for the memory of swinging on grapevines over ravines. Mr. Lane was the neighborhood grapevine monitor in our area.
He would cut every good one he could find just short enough so that none of us boys could reach it to start our flight.
Life is so different from when I was a child. We were always outside finding something to do & play & our folks had to call us inside at the end of the day when it got dark. I like the good ole days &, like Matt, I don’t like getting out to far from home. Praying for Granny!
This book would be a great addition to Wilma Dykeman’s The Tall Woman and Sydney Saylor Farr’s More Than Moonshine. I’d love to win it!
Everyone have a great day!
Thank you for sharing, I can relate to a lot of the experiences being recalled, when I myself, was growing up and running the ridges as we called them here in TN. We would play all day in the woods and the creeks, we chewed rabbit tobacco, were skinnin cats in the treetops, catching crawdads and waterdogs to use for fishing or just doin it for fun. As we grew older our childhood fell away and more serious matters took hold, like working in the fields, berry picking days helping, helping with cooking, canning and quilting or with the younger kids as the Mothers participated in the activities. I can remember making cracklins, sousemeat and lye soap growing up, folks don’t do these activities much anymore. I enjoy your blog and YouTube channel, as it always takes me back to my youth and the memories waiting for me there, I thank you for that.
I never chewed on mountain tea leaves, but I smoked rabbit baccer. We swung over creeks and steep banks on grapevines, too. It was not uncommon to find younger Appalachian kids doing the same things and playing the same games their parents, grandparents, and Opal did.
Sounds like another great book!
my older brothers and I not only swung on gravevines (dropping into the ‘deep hole’ at the creek) but we would from time to time break off a tiny vine about the length of a cigarette and smoke it….to this day I can not remember what that tasted like (I wish I could) I miss your reading about Opal, too bad there is not a sequel
When I reminisce about the crazy things we did as kids I wonder too how we survived some.LOL
Linda, we did a lot of things that would be considered crazy today, but back then neither we nor our parents thought anything about it. Unless it was a broke bone, we just put kerosene soaked rags on cuts and scratches and soaked sprains and bruises in epsom salt and water and just went on about our business.
Love reading about ways children played long ago. They were much more inventive than today, out of necessity.
When I was little, I took neighborhood walks in upstate South Carolina with my cousin Jeanie, who taught me how to fashion a ballerina from a common roadside flower. If you removed a few pieces, the ballerine’s arms flowed gracefully. Jeanie is gone now. For a long time I have been searching for the name of that flower. The closest I have come is a fuschia, also know as evening primrose, which is not native to the South, as far as I can tell.
Does anyone know what this might be? Did you invent scenarios or pretend to dance like a ballerina with this flower as a young girl?
I think that might be a passionflower (Passiflora edulis). Seems like the girls made dancers out of their blooms too.
That’s it, Ed! The passion flower! Such a long time since I have seen any by the road. Thank you for sharing that.
I remember swinging on grapr vines! Great fun!!! I’d chew on sassafras twigs and eat honeysuckle nectar. Red bud blossoms were an edible treat, too.
Great book!!
We had a spectacular view of the northern lights (aurora borealus) here at the Kansas/Missouri border last night. One of God’s beautiful wonders.
I really enjoyed hearing you read this book. I’d love to have a copy.
I landed on my bottom once because the vine wasn’t attached to the tree very well. That was the end of my vine-swinging! Love your stories.
I did all of those except licking sap from trees. I probably would have if I or someone else thought of it and dared me. I ate many different grasses and weeds and chewed black gum twigs, smoked grape vines and rabbit tobacco. I got hurt occasionally but rather than thinking I had tried something dangerous, I thought I must have done something wrong and tried it again. Sometimes the second attempt led to success and sometimes to more hurt.
It is amazing how children can amuse themselves with simple things. I enjoy hearing tjese stories as it reminds me of the things se used to do for fun like playing mumbley peg and swinging over water. My brother broke his arm doing that but it never stopped us. Love it
I remember grapevine swings When we were growing up we lived on a big farm and we played a lot in the woods
There was a spring above our house and Daddy had built a spring box where our water for the house came from when we were out in the fields working Him or Moma would send some of us to carry them water from the Springbox It stayed cold in the hot summers almost like being in the refrigerator
There was a big grapevine growing in the Trees one part looped down and you could sit on it and back up on the slope behind you , someone would push you and you could swing way out across the path we used to go to the upper Fields and across the barbed wire fence that was around one pasture and back . We loved it, We never thought how dangerous that could be
Once we put our smaller brother on it and He fell off it. He just laid there,It must knocked the breath out of Him We got scared and one of us ran to the House and told Mama and Daddy By the time we got Back up there He was alright (Thankfully
But that was the end of that grapevine swing. Daddy took He ax and chopped it down .
Playground in the woods! Would love a copy of the book!
I love to hear children playing outside, not screaming, but giggling and playing. Unfortunately, that isn’t a frequent sound anymore. Most children are inside with electronic games or off to organized sports. I think everyone….children, parents and yes even society were better when children played with sticks, empty boxes and were allowed to imagine.
I often think of the many dangerous things we did as kids. I really think my dad encouraged us to be daring, to test ourselves. I’d like to read this book. Thank you.
Good morning!!
Wonderful stories of childhood well spent. Sounds like a book I’d like to win.
Hope everyone is warming up today.
I can remember swinging on grapevines when I was young, just like in the story. Thank the Good Lord one never broke or we got hurt.
I really loved reading about Opal Myers childhood games and memories. Most kids today can only talk of games on a computer or phone and would not dare get off their laurels to actually get physical exercise or learn about the world around them by getting out in it and possibly fresh air and the ability to independently think, reason, and find one’s own excitement and own way. Opal could’ve ran rings around kids today and left them laying all around breathless… lol
I would skin bark from sweet gum trees and let the sap form a small ball that I would chew on. I also had a swinging vine for a little while until I finally pulled it out of the tree. My favorite toy when I was a young child was a pedal tractor, I would pretend to be plowing with it and make sounds with my mouth pretending the engine was running. When I final outgrew it, the hard rubber back tires were worn out. I only had one sister and no real close neighbors, so I often times played by myself. I grew up in a time when kids didn’t have a yard full of toys.
It is a wonderful they didn’t get hurt or worse. This is a great post!♥️
Simple Pleasures
I would enjoy reading this book! God bless!
Oh to be young again. Reading this reminds me of some of the things that the kids from around the neighborhood and I would do. Sure miss those days.
I loved it when you read this book about Opal to us. It reminds me of my own childhood swinging on grapevines and chewing on tiny birch branches. We would swing out over the edge of places that were dangerous too…never thinking we could get hurt. Kind of like going sledding on car hoods..what could be the danger in that? Haha. We were very lucky no one got hurt for sure.
I believe a lot of rural young’uns growing up, especially those influenced by those who grew-up before WW2, played similarly. As a young boy, I spent as much time in the woods as I was allowed. When I was about six or seven, my daddy showed me something he said they did as small boys. My daddy was young and very athletic. We were in the woods one day for whatever reason when asked if I had ever “skinned a cat:. Of course, in my young mind, I’m thinking of literally skinning a cat, but after a second or two he said, “this is how you do it”. He jumped a couple of feet upward against a scrawny Hickory sapling, pulling with his hands and arms and pushing upwards with his feet and legs like climbing a rope until he reached the rigid limits that the sapling would support. As it began to lean, he held onto it only with his hands. His arms were fully extended and having reached nearly 25′ above the ground, the sapling bent and he “rode it down” until his feet ever so gently touched the ground. I know from this brief description it doesn’t sound like much, but we spent a fair amount of time in our youth doing this and found it quite fun. I’ve shown my son and now his son (my grandson).
Yes, I can still “skin a cat” and am thankful to be that healthy/strong at my age in life.
Years had passed and I had never heard of anyone else other than local boys doing this until I was a young adult and heard the song by the band “Alabama” titled “Mountain Music” and there is a verse that describes “climbing a long tall Hickory (tree), bend it over SKINNING CATS”. I guess those boys over in Ft. Payne, Alabama played about the same way did with what they had/where they were. Has anyone else ever heard of “skinning cats” this way? Have a great week and enjoy the milder temps! Jeffery
Link to the song/verse: https://youtu.be/M6WfM0cXWSQ?t=145
We had a grapevine in the woods up on the hillside behind our house. My uncle had cut it and for about 4 or 5 years it managed to stay up in the trees until our neighbor swung out on it and it came crashing down along with our neighbor. I felt bad for Kevin, he got up and went home, he said he wasn’t hurt, but I didn’t believe him at the time.
We didn’t do things quite as daring as Barbara mentioned in our childhood but looking back we were mighty lucky we survived without some serious injuries!
What fun they had growing up. We did things like that too. We were often “run out” of the house every morning after breakfast and made our own fun till called back in for dinner/lunch. After lunch we were ready to run back out on our own to finish our adventures. I loved playing with my sisters in the pine grove in our front yard in Georgia when I was around 9 yrs old. We would rake the pine needles on the sandy ground to clear spots for houses and lay out a little village for ourselves. It was such fun. I’m so thankful for my childhood and my memories. I’m so blessed.
Another great post and especially since it comes from Opal’s life. I feel so sorry for the youth of today who are glued to their computers, phones, and other electronic devices. Growing up as a kid in the 50s we played outside during the summer and the winter. We had a black and white tv but it wad only turned on after supper which we all eat at the same time at the same table. If it wad rained by outside we read our books. My parents put a high value on reading. If it was snowing then we were outside playing in it or shoveling it. Don’t get me wrong I do have a computer but I use it to write stories about my life and my family. The joy of building a snow fort in the winter or climbing to the top of trees in the summer. We had fun. Praying for Granny. Have a blessed day.
Brings back memories of the good old days! Enjoyed your reading series about Opal. Most kids nowadays wouldn’t even know what a grapevine is having over the creek! Used to make grapevine wreaths in younger days and almost cut my finger off trying to cut one.
Good morning Tipper! I loved the story of Opal Corn Myers. I would love a copy to share with others. My prayers continue for Granny.
The things that Barbara League wrote about from her childhood reminds me of the things I did as a kid growing up.
This post reminds me of many things we did as children that we could have certainly been harmed. Back in the days when you were told to play outside, and you did so ALL DAY LONG…sweet memories
I can remember doing the same thing. we would peel back the bark and chew the green skin from the birch branch. I can remember chewing on sassafras leaves, in the grass there was something we called sauerkraut that tasted sour and we would chew on that. I can remember looking for and enjoying all the wild berries, teaberries, blueberries, blackberries. the outdoors and woods was our playground. Very sad kids today don’t have the freedom to play and use their imagination. It makes me very thankful I had that experience. it brings it all back reading everyone else’s memories.