From the creek bank, she picked fragrant peppermint plants, stuffing them in a knee-length checkered apron. City folks used it to season drinks. She used it for stomach medicine and a teaching tool. Faint, sweet fragrance filled the air as she pulled mint leaves from her pockets, saying, “Let’s make it mad.” Then she rubbed the leaves briskly between her hands to produce a strong powerful fragrance. “In this life, sometimes we are crushed t’ pieces and rubbed raw, but stay the course. Crushing will make you stronger. You will smell better, too.”
—It’s Not My Mountain Anymore written by Barbara Taylor Woodall
I love to grab a handful of the various herbs I have growing in my yard and rub them on my hands to smell the clean sweet fragrance they release. What wise words Barbara’s grandmother, Granny Lou, shared about crushing mint. Makes me feel better about the hard times that often come our way in this ole world.
Today’s Thankful November giveaway is a used copy of It’s Not My Mountain Anymore written by Barbara Taylor Woodall. To be entered in the giveaway leave a comment on this post. Giveaway ends November 25, 2024.
Last night’s video: Heirloom Dried Beans We Grew & I Bought Dried Hominy-I’m so EXCITED!!
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
Would love a copy of this book! Also I love the fragrance of home grown freshly rubbed mints and herbs. Store bought just doesn’t smell the same! Thank you Tipper!
I love, love, love rubbing different herbs like basil, rosemary, sage and thyme in my hands and just smelling the wonderful fragrance of each one. It is so refreshing. Herbs, spices and flowers are all such invigorating smells especially in the spring and summer months. We really should all stop and smell not only the roses but the other plants that God has blessed us with as well. God Bless you and your family Tipper this Holiday season and in the coming years!
This book sounds so interesting. I have never grown herbs. I would love to do so in a raised bed next spring.
I love reading these precious memories and comments and I love seeing your life play out on You Tube. Thank you for sharing Tipper.
I’d love to read this book!
There is a wonderful illustration in the Bible about crushing herbs this reminded me of. I believe it’s in the book of Isaiah.
I would love to receive the book, “It’s Not My Mountain Anymore.” I have always wished I could afford the book. I just do not even have the $1.00 to $5.00 to pay for a used one. I saw one in a Thrift one time, but so many pages were cut out, etc. I started not to reply and in fact I even shut down my computer. I started feeling like someone was tapping on my shoulder. I realized it was God telling me to send you an email. So, I finally stopped everything and prayed to the Lord and then sent this email. God Bless you Tipper for starting my day always with cheerful stories, history on different subjects, etc.
Betty-thank you! I sent you an email when you have time please read it 🙂
“Crushing will make you stronger. “ I love this!
I planted mint once and it spread throughout my backyard. My yard smelled great, especially after the grass (and mint) was mowed!
Love mint. I dry it to have in tea all winter long.
This post was perfect for my day today. We went to my husband’s doctor appointment and found he needed some minor surgery that afternoon. I had planned to do some much needed grocery shopping afterwords but had to cut the shopping to the bare minimum in order to get the medications and keep his appointment at 4p. After so many surprises regarding his health, this no longer causes much anxiety but it does wear me out at my age. My Aint Gene said hardship breeds wisdom.
JC-praying for your husband!!
Tipper, this sounds like another terrific book for you to read to us! I sure do love listening to you read! I listen when I’m driving ,to work or to my folks. I’ve listened to several of your book reads over and over. Thank you so very much for reading these FABULOUS books!
Sounds like a book I’d enjoy reading any thing about the mountains.
When I was a boy, a large sage bush grew near the corner of our house. I loved to pull a few leaves and rub them together with my hands. The smell was delightful. I still love the smell of many herbs.
I brought home some mint to plant from my grandma’s house – it’s amazing how fast 3 little sprigs of mint will spread! Herbs are some of the easiest and fun plants to grow.
I too love the herbs. love making a lemon balm tea, sure makes the stomach feel better!
I’m just like you. When I walk by one of my herbs I just have to reach down and rub them between my fingers. It always smells so refreshing. ❣️
l have grown chocolate mint for years. Love making simple syrup with it. Many uses. This book sounds so interesting.
I love the well crafted wording of Granny Lou’s sage advice.
I start every morning with a cup of hot mint tea. I grow spearmint . Peppermint doesnt grow good for me. One of my favorite smells is sage. I pick it to rub and just smell. I would love to read this book. Thank you for all you do for us.
It’s amazing how scents and sounds bring back such wonderful memories of our childhood. I have enjoyed so much reading today’s blog about the smell of the crushed herbs and the many ways people used them. It brought to mind the herbs my mother and grandmother had in or near their garden … sage, mint, catnip, ginseng, etc. which had various uses … sage for their Thanksgiving dressing, catnip for tea (or for the cats), ginseng tea for whatever ails you. Though not an herb, one of my favorite memories is the smell of vanilla flavoring. Mama loved to cook and made “sweetbread” quite often for us kids when we were growing up. Of course, it contained sugar, eggs, and vanilla which made the whole house smell wonderful when it was baking. Mama’s niece said her house always smelled like vanilla flavoring. There’s nothing that speaks love like coming home from school to a warm house that smells like vanilla flavoring and a slice of sweetbread right out of the oven and a glass of cold milk waiting for you. Wonderful memories!
Betty, I have been told my uncle loved vanilla flavoring so well was a little boy he drank enough to get passed out drunk. The old country doctor told grandmother he would sleep it off and be alright. I think in the older days vanilla flavoring had a high content of alcohol.
If it’s real vanilla extract it has to have alcohol! 35%
If it don’t have alcohol it is called imitation vanilla extract or vanilla flavoring. These flavorings use propylene glycol to extract the flavor from the beans in place of alcohol. Propylene is made mainly from propane and glycol from fats and oils. Polypropylene is plastic. Yummy!
I don’t drink alcohol but I will only use the real vanilla extract. The alcohol evaporates with heat leaving the flavor behind.
Dear Cousin Betty Louise, I remember well Aunt Lydia’s sweetbread and the smell of vanilla flavoring permeating through her lovely home. She was such a good cook and a sweet aunt. She was my Mother’s favorite sister. They were just 2 years apart in age and grew up together. They shared a special bond, like you and I share too. Thanks for bringing back some sweet smelling memories to me. Yes, I can almost smell that sweetbread baking right now. I think I will include sweetbread in my Thanksgiving menu and share those sweet memories with my family. I wish I could paint that memory so I could show them what I’m remembering but I can’t do that yet. It’s up to you and me to keep that memory alive in our remembrances of our life in Appalachia. Aren’t we blessed!
I haven’t ever grown any herbs but y’all are sure making me want to!!
Wow, Tipper. Loved the excerpt from the book. It sure hit home. Thank you.
It grows like a weed in my garden. I love the smell.
What a sweet story! I’m sure the rest of the book will be as good!
There’s lots of useful information stored in the minds of older country folks that is lost on the younger people. Now if you want to know about something you ‘google it’. When I was a kid I was told to, “Ask Grandma.” We try to grow herbs most everywhere we live. We sold a house once to a Hispanic family and had to teach them about the plants in the yard, one being cilantro. They had never seen it except in the stores.
What beautiful writing ! What beautiful thoughts ! I would love to read more !Love & blessings to everyone!
I love the message of Granny Lou’s words of wisdom. Finding joy in the little things.
My mother always had a peppermint plant growing beside our little home in California. I so enjoyed picking a leaf and chewing it like gum. Would love to have the book as my ancestors were from North Carolina, Virginia areas. Thanks for sharing the lovely stories of your home.
Everytime I walk in my garden or yard I run my hands across my rosemary and give it a little squeeze. I love the smell it emits, and it helps keep the skeeters away too. I would love a copy of this wonderful book.
Good morning Tipper….what a beautiful thought for when life gets hard. Makes me think of another saying: “what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.”
I love reading about all the different ways we all use our herbs and reminisce with them. Many years ago I started an herb garden, and I love to cook with them, smell them, do anything with them, including just walking by and crushing them just for the enjoyment of the smell. When I started with herbs, I planted a rosemary bush in a large planter beside the carport at my back door. My daddy got interested in my herbs and smelling them. When he walked by the rosemary, I told him to close his hand around a limb and rub up from the bottom and smell his hand. He did, and he just stopped and closed his eyes and did it over and over again. When he opened his eyes, he was all misty, and he had the most wonderful look in his eyes. He said when he was a little boy, his Momma had a bush beside the back door that she cooked with and he never knew what it was. He said now I know it was a rosemary and I had never been able to figure it out. Of course, I rooted one for him and he grew it until he passed away six years ago and I brought it back to my house to cherish. I love the memories of that day.
Lovely, Tipper. Thank you for sharing such wise words.
Love this book! I am biased though since Barbara is my cousin 😉
I would enjoy reading this book!
I used to grow all sorts of herbs among the flowers in my garden. I still keep mint growing in a pot close to the door. I break off a sprig or two to put in my iced tea in the summer. So refreshing!
Such wonderful words of wisdom….passed down thru the generations. My Mother and Grandma and Aunt Bertie used mint and lots of herbs for different things, I remember my Grandma rubbing it between her fingers and letting me smell it, I was just a little girl, probably about 5 years old.
You know I just realized that peppermint is not a native Appalachian plant. It has been imported from parts of Europe and the Middle East. The plant I have experienced all my life and thought of as peppermint is actually a subspecies of Gaultheria procumbens or teaberry. In my youth I often found it on high ridgetops in the far removed and mostly forgotten reachs of southwestern Swain County, North Carolina.
I always stopped to pick a few leaves and rub them “briskly” between my palms. In season I would pick a few of their tiny fruit which tasted just like the crushed leaves smelled. I often picked a few leaves to carry in my pocket in case I needed to improve my own natural aroma.
Could this be the plant that Granny Lou was picking along the creek? I’m not disputing Mrs. Woodall at all, just wondering!
I used to love the smell of fresh mint and herbs but since I can’t smell or taste anymore it’s something in my past
I read the book and could relate to every word the author wrote. When I go back home to my mountain, I silently repeat that book’s title a hundred times when I pass a strip mining site or see once-prosperous families struggling with finances and addiction. Peppermint essential oil sprayed in the garage keeps the mice at bay. It adds a bonus of wonderful fragrance in the garage that I can’t use indoors as it might have the same effect on me as it does on the mice.
My neighbor has chocolate mint growing all over her front porch flower bed. It takes over the walkway often and has the most wonderful smell when walked on.
Sounds like an interesting read.
I grow mint in my garden. I love to add fresh peppermint to my tea. This sounds like a book I would enjoy reading. Thank you for sharing.
I would love this book. I’m finally getting back to reading again.
I love fresh herbs and mint. I’ve become obsessed with strawberry mint. I purchased some strawberry mint from the place in Robinsville ( I believe the name is Satterfields) that you told about but it just didn’t take hold. The lady was so sweet to mail it to me even though she doesn’t usually do that. I can’t find strawberry mint any where other than mail order. I love to grow fresh herbs and use fresh or dehydrate them in my dehydrator. We enjoy your videos on YouTube.
I’m sure I have posted this before, but …I am “bad to” pick anything fragrant and put it in my shirt pocket; sage, lavender, cedar, heartleaf, rabbit tobacco, sweet goldenrod, walnuts and so on. Had not thought about “being rubbed the wrong way” but that truly will show what one is made of. I have read the book because you had posted about it before. Like Randy and Ms Woodall each said in other words … live long enough and the place you knew will leave you. It will change more than you do. You can pass my chance on to someone farther away as I think her book will be easier to find here in Georgia.
We have a ton of mint growing just outside our greenhouse. My 5 year old knows how much I love to smell it, and he always picks me some and brings it to me as a surprise so we can rub it between our hands and take a big whiff!
I love the smell of most herbs but I do favor lavender! Sometimes I need some mint to rub together!!!!!
Everyone have a great day!
I would love this book!
I would love to read this book. I grow mint all along the back of my house and I could just smell it as I read this. I love mint in my iced tea and make a strong infusion to pour in my water to make mint water, or just walk by it and break off a couple of leaves to chew on.
Barbara RIP, one of my best friends gave me several pieces of her mint. I planted them by my back door. It grew out of control. Oh how I loved to smell it. I would grab some leaves everytime I went in the back door and rub them together. I would love to read this book.
My husband and I own a wedding venue. I always set out a pretty jug of infused water using mint from my garden for when the guests are waiting for the ceremony to start and it’s hot outside. Last year I was so taken by your nasturtiums that I bought seeds and planted them in big old pots in my garden. They did wonderful! I remembered you said that they were purely edible so I add them along with some lemon slices to my mint infused water. It looks so beautiful and the guests tear into it. Thank you for the inspiration.
I love the smell of tomato leaves or basil on my hands. With tomatoes, you don’t even have to pick or crush the leaves to get the scent on your hands.
Love that she used it for medicine. I can see in my minds eye her shaking her head at the thought of using it for a drink complement. Lol
Sounds like another wonderful read.
I love picking and crushing the mint in my yard. Lemon balm and rosemary are also favorites.
I love fresh mint iced tea in the summer. It would be fun to win this book.
Sounds like another great book!
This lady sounds like she would be a joy to spend time with, sharing loads of wisdom along the way.
God makes something beautiful out of the crushing. I loved this little excerpt. Thanks for sharing.
Good message
I’ve been trying to find this book and here it is!
Linda- if you live close to White Pine, TN there’s a used book store called White Pine Books. Chances are you will find this book. I drove up from Clinton and it’s worth the drive. Just be prepared to stay awhile!
I would love to have this book.
Such a good example of staying the course, trusting in God and you can get through the tough times in this life. God has a plan and we must be willing to obey and to make Spirit lead decisions.
Would love to have this book.
I love growing mints of all kinds- especially the ginger mint I bought at the little nursery you recommended. Satterfields even had a plant called Indian mint and I grew it last summer. But spearmint is what flourishes around my house. I set out a plant of it in 2009 and it’s all over the place now, which makes me very happy.
Tipper, start my day with you and coffee. Would love to read this book!
I need to add mint to my garden area. My aunt grew mint and lavender right outside her back porch and used both. What an apt comparison that crushing the leaves brought the best fragrance out just as trials in life can bring put the best character in a person.
I absolutely love fresh mint leaves in a gallon of fresh lemonade—it tastes so good that when we made a jug to take to a church dinner we usually kept it out of sight from all the church memebers allowing them to drink their fill of tea or water but the mint leaf lemonade was only shared among the women working the kitchen (shameful I know lol). The women who drank of this wonderful nectar took on a more joyous nature–more smiles and laughter, almost a feeling of euphoria woiuld break out among the drinkers of the lemonade, so much so that more than once we were accused of adding more than mint leaves….oh the wonders mint did to the already wonderful homemade lemonade…you couldnt add too much mint or drink too much lemonade
My favorite herb is rosemary and I have it planted where you can walk past, brushing it. The area is infused with it’s intensity. Mint and oregano are joyful herbs, spreading and rambling all throughout the garden. I would love a copy of this book.
Even though cold weather is squarely upon us, this makes me already look forward to next years growing season and crushing the fragrant mint we have growing. Thank you, Tipper!
Better than any perfume, tea, or otc medicine you could buy!
So thankful we live in a world God filled with useful and beautiful things!
❤️ Meg
I loved watching Granny and Paul singing Hold My Hand Precious Lord! That’s engraved on my husband’s and my tombstone. Whoever wins today’s book will really enjoy it – I wish it could be me. Thank you for your work in sharing the history of Appalachia with us!
I grow different herbs and love the smell of them when crushed. I don’t grow mint since it can be invasive, but I may try one of these years putting it in a container to keep it contained.
Would like to read this book !
I’ve grown spearmint and lemon balm before, and my are they fragrant if you rub your hands in the leaves! My children always enjoy picking the leaves while they play in the yard.
My mom always had mint growing in her garden and we sometimes put a couple of leaves in our pitcher of iced tea!
I would love to try some home made hominy. I’ve only had store bought.
Watching you enjoy the simplest things like drying beans and peas warms my heart!
THIS!!! What a wonderful analogy. This book has been on my “must read list.” You know, the one we long to have time for and vow to make time for but somehow never have time for. I take this as a sign. Buy or win it shall be read!! Blessings, Linda
I really enjoy the teaching lessons that our elders used. All the beauty in nature wrapped up to share it’s wisdom, If we would only stop long enough to take it all in.
Carolyn
I have eaten homemade hominy, all my life. I have never heard of dried hominy. I am anxious to see the video.
“I am at that stage of life where homegrown mint excites me more than clothes and bags.”
I love to grow herbs. I enjoy all the smells and all the uses for them. I always start my morning with a cup of coffee and your posts. Thank you so much.
I love your site We grew up as you talk about There are so many things I can relate to I would love this book to share with my Sister who lost Her Home , 2 cars ‘& belongings in the flood Thankfully she survived I know there are so many others and I hope each one can get the help they need
Patricia-I sent you an email 🙂
I am glad to hear your sister is okay. I will keep her in my heart.
grabbing a sprig of herb my favorite being rosemary, just brings me joy. having a bit of any herb I grow makes me really appreciate the scent of summer
I would love to read this.
I’d love to have this book. My late husband’s family were “mountain people” and I have so many fond memories. You help being them back.
This sounds like a very interesting book. So many life lessons in nature.
Crushing you will make you stronger. That is an interesting statement. Thanks for sharing…
I have longed to read this book. My local library cannot get ahold of a copy. I grow several types of mint. I will be reminded of this now each time I rub them together. It smells so wonderful! Thank you for sharing!
Debbie, I hope you can win this book, but if you don’t, look on eBay. I just looked and there are several used copies available for less than $10, one was $5 and free shipping. I buy a lot of used books from eBay, one seller that I have had good luck with is second sales, they have this book available.
Try thriftbooks.com. They deal in used & out of print books at a fraction of retail cost. If they don’t have the title you want, you can be put on a waiting list and they will notify you when they get a copy. I got my copy there. I’ve found many books off Tipper’s reading list there.
The fragrances of Earth’s children carry the strength of ageless memories and timeless medicines! As always I appreciate today’s post. Brightest blessings, LoriAnne
I love to just rub my hands along peppermint or lavender as I walk past and then inhale the scent deeply. God gave us such wonderful gifts in those fragrant herbs and flowers. She seems like she was a very wise woman.
The only plant I have ever grown similar to this would be catnip. The hot dry weather we had this summer may have killed it. I remember being very young and going with my mother to some type of church lunch. Instead of lemons, they had some type of green leaves hung on the edge of the glasses of tea. Mother said it was catnip. I thought it was something, I talked about it for a long time. I have this book by Barbara and have read it several times and can also say my neck of the woods is also not the same anymore. I have bought and started reading her second book and will say the man that rubbed the sow’s belly and thought it was buttons on his wife’s gown was not the only funny thing he did while drunk.