Tipper's really good cornbread

Tonight I watched a video by Tipper Pressley, owner and administrator of the blog, Blind Pig and the Acorn. Tipper lives in the southern Appalachians in North Caroliona. Her blog and her You Tube channel celebrates Appalachia and the people who live here. I have followed her blog for twenty years or more and now she has begun making videos for her You Tube channel.

She and I cook in much the same way. She learned from her mother and I learned from my mother. Tipper taught us the secret to good cornbread in this video, She has a special cast iron pan she keeps only for cooking cornbread. In the south, our cornbread is that important. I, too, have a cornbread pan. Mine once belonged to my mother-in-law, Helen Beall. 

I learned something new from Tipper tonight. She coats the pan with lard or Crisco and puts it into the oven where it heats as the oven heats to 475 degrees. Mother usually put some lard or vegetable shortening in the pan and let it melt. But Tipper spread it thickly over the bottom, sides and rim of the pan. That makes for a crisp crust on the bread. And like Tipper, I like that crust and I, too, have to cut a small piece when it comes out of the oven, slather it with butter and eat it. Delicious!

Tipper is helping to revive or restore the old ways of living here in our beautiful mountains. She and her family grow a garden every summer. She cans and freezes vegetables. She teaches cooking classes at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC close to her home.

Her family is also keeping the music of Appalachia alive. She, her brother and her twin daughters sing and play traditional music together. If you want to know more about this part of the world, check out The Blind Pig and the Acorn. Get to know her family and the many friends who leave comments every day after reading her words. 

After the storm, I'm reading the Blind Pig and the Acorn

After a stormy night that left my yard littered with limbs from the trees surrounding my house, it is wonderful to see the sunshine today. I am sorry for all those who lost so much through this mass of bad weather that battered the southland this week. I am grateful no tree fell on my house and I don't believe I have any other damage.

I want to share a post from The Blind Pig and the Acorn. If you like music, and, if you were a fan of the late Glen Campbell, you will enjoy this post by Paul, brother of Tipper Pressley. You get a bonus at the end. A video of the Pressley Sisters and Paul singing Gentle on My Mind. It is not a studio version, just a home video of the group singing in the kitchen. They have other cds for sale on their website.

https://blindpigandtheacorn.com/gentle-on-my-mind/?unapproved=163631&moderation-hash=fb6c15f9adc5a69b3802d8b0c898d0d1#comment-163631

Blackberry Time Here in the Mountains

I read Tipper Pressley's blog, The Blind Pig and the Acorn every day. I subscribe and it is delivered right to my Inbox. She is a friend but also, I enjoy her posts. Today she reminded me of my childhood on the farm where blackberries grew wild and where my sister and I were often sent to pick them. Mother made blackberry pie or cobbler and she also made blackberry jelly. I can still taste that jelly on one of her soft delicious biscuits. I have never found any jelly in a store as good as that my mother made. Tipper has generously given me some of her jelly at times and it is delicious as well. Now if I just had Mother's good biscuits.

Mother and Daddy in front of the farm house where I grew up.

I am sharing a poem from my book, Now Might as Well be Then, about my blackberry picking.

Blackberry Patch

Mother's voice rises above my bawling.

"Stop pitching a fit and get your bucket."

I plant myself on the top step

bare feet refusing to move.

My dread lies coiled deep in the brambles.

He slithered out when I thrust my hand

in to grab a plump one.

Fear-prickled, I danced in terror

then streaked home screaming.

An ominous cloud shadows the sky.

Fat raindrops plop in the yard dust.

Reprieve. Blessed reprieve.

           -- Glenda C. Beall

Locally Made Movie showing in Asheville June 7th

For readers who live in Asheville or nearby, check out this award-winning movie filmed right here in Brasstown, NC with my friends, Tipper Pressley and her twin daughters. “Earlier this year the film won first place at an Appalachian Film Festival held in West Virginia. I hope it’s received as well in Asheville and beyond!” Tipper said on The Blind Pig and the Acorn.

If I Had Wings to Fly “is about a young man from a small mountain town in western north carolina who, through his singular desire to play music, ends up learning some things about community, culture, place, love and loneliness. It is a chapter of Felix's life that is frenetic and challenging, both joyful and thoughtful, in which he dances up and down the staircase that he is told leads up to maturity. It's a story about how saying "yes" to things (because you aren't afraid to, or because you have no other choice) isn't always easy but usually leads to enriching and meaningful experiences.”

There are none better than Applachian Folklore Blogger, Tipper Pressley and her musical daughters to enrich this movie with their talent and knowledge of mountain music.

What: The official premiere of Kazoo Films’ If I Had Wings to Fly

Where: The Fine Arts Theater in downtown Asheville, NC

When: Thursday, June 7th at 7pm (6:30 for music)

How Much: $8.75

Who: Directors Bruno Seraphin and Harrison Topp, Tipper Pressley, Chatter Pressley, Chitter Pressley, Tim Ryan, and live old-time musical guests, you!

Read more interesting accounts about the making of this film and see photos of some Folk School employees at  http://kazoofilms.org/

JUST FOR FUN

Reading a post on the Blind Pig today reminded me of this light verse I wrote recently. What do you think of real butter vs. margarine?


ODE TO REAL BUTTER

No margarine or simulated spread
can match your taste dissolving on my tongue,
spread over crisp hard rolls,
seeping into crannies of my English muffins,
melting into steaming morning grits.

When I was a kid, you came like magic,
from milk fresh-squeezed from Jerseys,
skimmed cream, shaken in a quart jar,
come butter, Come butter, come butter come.
Papa’s at the gate with a hot pan cake.

Mother crooned, churned, and I knew
that soon the soft spread, washed
and salted, would appear in a crock,
would saturate hot biscuits on my plate.

Oh, Butter, you are the star of my
taste buds, you glow in yellow glory
on my plate.

Like a teenage girl seeing
that Bieber child with butter
colored hair upon the stage,
I weep with longing for you.

Interview with popular Applachian writer and blogger, Tipper Pressley

Your blog, Blind Pig and the Acorn is very popular. When did you begin the blog and how did you decide on your theme?

Tipper: Previously, I thought blogs were only about politics or news, but during the year of 2007 I discovered there are blogs about everything under the sun. After reading the Old Red Barn Blog for a few weeks, I decided I loved the format of sharing your thoughts with others via the web. My passion has always been my Appalachian Heritage, so it was a natural leap to want to blog about my life in Appalachia. I started the Blind Pig and the Acorn in the early spring of 2008.

Your writing touches your readers and is almost poetic at times, almost spiritual at times.  Your voice is unpretentious and down-to-earth. I also notice a double negative here and there. Is that because you want your posts to sound like people talk?

Tipper: When I set out to celebrate and preserve my heritage through the Blind Pig, I really never thought of it as writing. It feels more like I'm talking to a group of friends who are sitting around my computer. I'm not a schooled or trained writer. I guess you could say I write straight from the heart.

3. Your readers come from all over the country. Why do you think your blog appeals to such a wide geographical area?
Tipper: Most of the folks who visit the Blind Pig on a regular basis fall into 3 categories. The first are people like me who live in Appalachia and want to see the culture preserved; the second are folks who lived in Appalachia at some point during their lives or who had family who lived in Appalachia; the third are folks who are curious about Appalachia and want to know what it's really like.

4. What subject brings you more readers?

Tipper: By far my most popular subject matter is the dialect of Appalachia. The monthly Appalachian Vocabulary Tests and Appalachian Grammar Lessons are my 2 most popular posts. Month after month folks seem to like them best.

5. Do you plan your posts ahead and have several on hand all the time?

Tipper:I have a variety of posts planned in my mind at all times. It's like I have a little circus juggler who lives in my brain and he's constantly rotating my choices for me. I'm never organized enough to actually write posts ahead. I keep those thoughts juggling until one feels right, then I write it on the fly the night before I publish it or sometimes a few minutes before I publish it.

6. I admire your photographs that fit each post so well. Do you take new photographs for each post or do you have some in stock?

Tipper: I'm constantly taking pictures so sometimes I have something in my stock pile that will work for a post, but most of the time I take pictures specifically for each post.

7. Your whole family, Chitter and Chatter, your twins, and your husband, the Deer Hunter, are involved in the activities you write about. Do they know ahead of time that you will be writing about a hike or a hunt for some unusual finds?

Tipper: My family plays a huge part in the Blind Pig and the Acorn. We don't do things just for me to blog about. We go about our days like we always have-but I do look at our activities as a possible blog post in the making. 

8. You occasionally have guests who post on Blind Pig. Do they contact you and submit their essays for your approval?
Tipper: I have some fabulous guest posters on the Blind Pig. All are much better writers than I am. Some I seek out--others seek me out.

9. What advice would you give someone who is beginning a blog? How often should they post? How can they find an audience?
 
Tipper: My advice for people who want to have a successful blog is: Are you really, really sure you want to do this? Blogging to gain a following or to make money is a tough row to hoe as Pap would say. It takes a lot of time and energy. If you're looking for a following you should post at least three times a week if not more.

One of the easiest, but most time consuming, ways to build an audience is to visit other blogs. Seek out blogs that are similar to yours and try to make a connection with them.

On the other hand,if you're just blogging for fun or for your family, do it however you want to and have fun. Blog platforms are a great, easy, and cheap way to share news with your family and friends.

Your viewers love you and your blog. It is read by acclaimed authors like Vicki Lane who says she learns about Appalachia from reading your blog, and she uses that information in her novels. Does that please you?
Tipper: The positive feedback I receive from readers makes me feel like the Queen of Appalachia or at least like the Angel of Brasstown. I am truly grateful for my readers because they are helping me achieve my goal of preserving and celebrating the culture and heritage of Appalachia.

11. Many bloggers think no one is reading their blog if they don't have a long list of comments every day as you have. Is that the way to tell if you are reaching an audience?

Tipper: Comments are proof that you are reaching and engaging your audience, however all blogs have lurkers. A lurker is a person who may read every post a blogger writes-but never leave a comment. So comments aren't the only measure of success for a blog.
 

12. Your blog spurs something in me almost every day that makes me want to write about my life or something that happened in my past. You bring the past into the present and stir the memories of your readers no matter where they live or have lived.

Many things I read on your blog take me back to my youth in southwest Georgia. I admire your using your father’s oral history, a valuable resource, on the Blind Pig. Did he have any part in your beginning this blog or centering on this theme?

Tipper: Anyone who reads the Blind Pig or who knows me personally-can easily tell I think Pap (my father) hung the moon. I have such a strong connection with Pap that it would be impossible for me to set out to achieve a goal in my life without taking him along for the journey-and lucky for me he's always happy to go along for the ride. Pap taught me to appreciate my culture, so it's only natural that he plays a significant role in the Blind Pig.
Is there anything else you would like to tell us about you or the Blind Pig and the Acorn?

Tipper: When I first started the Blind Pig I set out to achieve a goal. I wanted to weave what went before into an appreciation for the present as well as a hope for the future. After blogging about Appalachia for the last three years, I've realized two amazing things:

First: our culture isn't totally fading away. There are folks who are still doing the things their parents or grandparents taught them to do.

Second: it is possible to incorporate many of those old time Appalachian ways into our modern day lives. And if we do, our lives will be all the richer for it. 

Thank you, Tipper, for sharing your story with my readers. Over the past three years, as I've shared your blog address with others, I have heard many writers and poets praise your writing on Blind Pig.  

Tipper Pressley will be teaching a class on Appalachian cooking at the John C. Campbell Folk School, May, 2012. 
Lulu.com carries Tipper's calendar on planting by the signs. Look for Blind Pig and the Acorn's Planting by the Signs. Her readers have grown better gardens following her advice.
Coming soon on Tipper's blog is a video she directed and edited starring her talented daughters.
Visit her here.

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Dogs are Like Family Members

I have been reading Tipper's blog, Blind Pig and the Acorn. I subscribe to her newsletter, http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com/blind_pig_the_acorn/2011/04/appalachia-through-my-eyes-wild-bills-a-true-friend.html

and saw I had missed a post on Favorite Pet. The list of comments on that post  rolled on and on  with stories of wonderful, well-loved dogs.
                                                                                                                            This one looks like Brandy, our first beloved pet, playful and full of life.

As I read those heart warming stories, I thought again of doing as my friend Shirley Uphouse did, writing a book about my well-loved dogs beginning with Brandy, the miniature poodle who thought he was a Great Dane or maybe a circus performer. Brandy came into our lives a couple of weeks after Barry and I married. The little ball of black fluff was my wedding present from my sweet husband who knew how much I wanted my own puppy. He loved dogs as much as I, so he had found the litter of pups that belonged to a home breeder. We seemed to know immediately the one we wanted. He seemed to know as well, that we were the ones he wanted to own, to train, to live with all of his 19 years.

From his first night with us when he refused to stay in the bed we had prepared for him with socks, toys and a clock to remind him of his mothe's heartbeat,
all things we'd read would make the new puppy happy, he owned us.

Brandy started out in a box in the kitchen. Before midnight his box was beside the bed with Barry's hand drooped down for the puppy to smell and lick. But when I awoke the next morning, the wee curly black baby slept on my pillow.

Within months, Brandy was responsible for us moving from our  furnished apartment to our home in the woods. We had little to pack other than our clothes, Barry's guitars and his record collection. We also had a naughty puppy that could not and would not be left alone. When we had to go to work, Brandy punished us for leaving him by chewing and destroying anything he could reach with his little teeth. That included the sofa, the chairs, the coffee table, the doors and whatever was within his reach. He shredded the sofa cushions one day,the next, he  destroyed the inside of the bathroom when we locked him in there.

That was the beginning of the Brandy years of our lives in the woods on the farm. Some day I'll write all of Brandy's escapades and put them between covers of a book.

Would  you read a book about a most intelligent, stubborn  and manipulative little dog with the heart of an athelete, a champion?

Blind Pig Owner now on film

My dear friend, Tipper of the Blind Pig and the Acorn, a most popular site, has a delightful announcement and a good interview on her blog today. We might see her and her lovely twins, Chitter and Chatter, up on the big screen. Yes, they participtated in an independant movie being made in the Brasstown area.



Go over and read Tipper's blog and see what I'm talking about.

http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com/

Tipper's interview on Blind Pig

For those of you who might be interested, Tipper Pressley of Blind Pig and the Acorn did an interview with me recently, and I am so pleased that she posted it on her blog. I was also pleased that Tipper says my writing reminds her of her life growing up here in the mountains of North Carolina.

A south west Georgia girl isn't often listed under the category of Appalachian Writer, but I am proud to have that title. Click here to read Tipper's interview.

Twins,Chitter and Chatter, daughters of Tipper Pressley of Blind Pig and the Acorn