Mike and I started dating when he was 13 and I was 14. Most of our “dates” consisted of walking, swimming at the YMCA and making grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup at his parents house. And we spent countless hours pouring over The Foxfire Book and its sequels. We were going to homestead.
The Foxfire Books were written by high school students in the late 1960s and early 1970s who interviewed older family and neighbors. This was southern Appalachia and these folks were still using old home remedies, killing hogs and using every last bit of the animal, living in log cabins and making moonshine. The students wanted to start a magazine with articles on how the older generation were living. It all turned into 12 books full of old time lore.
We married when he was 18 and I was 19. We didn’t homestead. But we are avid gardeners and buy our raw milk and grass fed meat from local farms. And Mike hunts, and we cook in a Dutch Oven at the cottage, and ferment vegetables, and make our own bread, yogurt, and soap. The last time we were at the cottage, I pulled out the old Foxfire Books. They’ll make some good winter reading.
Shared at: Fresh Foods, Whole Foods, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Eat Make Grow, Rural Thursday, Freaky Friday, Weekend Whatever, Fight Back Friday, Farmgirl Friday, Sunday School, Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, TALU Tuesday, Teach Me Tuesday
You didn’t make moonshine but you tried your hand at making wine! I still remember the dandelion wine fermenting and wondering if you were really going to drink it and hoping it didn’t kill the both of you.
I thought this might bring back some memories for you! Love you!
My husband and I started dating when I was 14 and he was 15. We lived in the suburbs growing up but in the last 12 years we have a little acreage on a rocky ridge top outside of St Louis MO. He loved The Foxfire Books and have started a good collection of country living informational books, picked up older books on how things were done in the 1800-1900s, etc. We are learning to garden, butcher, raise chicks and try to be as self sustaining as we can with limited resources. I work in town and he’s a carpenter. I’ll havc to pull out these books this winter too!
Wonderful! I know now that those old dreams were anything but foolish.
What a charming story! Wow, you were youngsters. My grandma had the Foxfire books and I remember being intrigued by them as a teenager. I liked to read about the crafts and about eating wild foods. I should see if my mom knows the whereabouts of those books.
Yep, we sure were young. Isn’t God good to keep up together these 36 years?
I loved looking at the Firefox books too – I can remember reading them as a kid!
Quite a lot of amazing people in those books!
Wow! ~ great photo and post ~ Foxfire Books sound so interesting ~ ( Creative Harbor)
Thanks, Caro!
Oh I am going to look up these books they sound fascinating. B
You’ll enjoy them!
What a sweet memory. xo
Thanks for stopping by!
I saw your post in the link up and hopped over here, reading your post made me remember that my brother bought me a couple of the books about ten years ago. They’ve just been sitting on my bookshelf for a while, forgotten, until today. Thank you for this wonderful reminder of how good those books are- I’m going to go pick one up and start reading them again!
Enjoy!
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I enjoy the Foxfire books too. Love your plaid painted floor!
Thanks! That was a lot of fun!
very cute story. also, very cute pigs!!
thank you for sharing with us at the Wednesday Fresh Foods Blog Hop! i hope to see you again this week with more seasonal & real/fresh foods posts. xo, kristy
Yep, I’ll be back!
My dad has 9 of the 12 Fox Fires. I borrowed one of them last time we were home. Some of the articles are better than other. I was particularly struck by one complete description of make soap. Starting with rendering the lard and filtering water through old ashes to make the lye. They are excellent reads.
The people in the books are amazing and incredibly hard workers, aren’t they?
Wow, those books sound really interesting! Visiting from the TALU… I think I’ll be looking at a few of your posts. We have some things in common when it comes to a natural lifestyle.
I know what Foxfire is! Went with my daughter on her kindergarten field trip to the museum last year, very interesting place, and beautiful! She learned how to make a cup from poplar leaves! Anyway, it was alot of fun and just about 15 minutes from my house. Stopping by from TALU.
I was old by the time I left home. 26! That’s sweet to marry someone from childhood. My parents also got married at 18/19 (and I was right there with them – in the womb)
You life comes straight out of the movies! I would love to be able to live off the land, so to speak. for now, I will have to do with farmers markets!
TALU
That is fantastic. More people should interview our elders and document things like that. I would love to read those books. (TALU)
hello I am here from TALU! woww you started dating at that age cool even awesome to be married at the the same person you dated when you were 13 and 14.. this reminds me of my grandparents, they also got married when my grandma was like 17 and my grandpa was 20. and they had a simple life in with a big rice field, farm, and poultry. i lived with them till i was 17. it was a great childhood!
I enjoyed those books very much. It’s a shame the teacher who started it all and had the opportunity to inspire so many threw it all away with his terrible actions. Such a shame and a waste. The real losers are the kids. Not just the ones he was accused of molesting, but all the kids who trusted him.
Yikes; I had no idea!
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