Foxfire Fund - Household crafts and tips: The Foxfire Americana Library (12)

FIRST ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION, APRIL 2011

Copyright 1972, 1975 by the Foxfire Fund, Inc.

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Soapmaking, A Quilt is Something Human, Making a Hamper Out of White Oak Splits, and Making a Basket Out of White Oak Splits all originally appeared in The Foxfire Book, 1972 by The Foxfire Fund, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.

Purple Martin Gourds, Dipper Gourds, Brooms and Brushes, and Cornshuck Mops, Dolls, and Hats all originally appeared in Foxfire 3, 1975 by The Foxfire Fund, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.

eISBN: 978-0-307-94831-1

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For almost half a century, high school students in the Foxfire program in Rabun County, Georgia, have collected oral histories of their elders from the southern Appalachian region in an attempt to preserve a part of the rapidly vanishing heritage and dialect. The Foxfire Fund, Inc., has brought that philosophy of simple living to millions of readers, starting with the bestselling success of The Foxfire Book in the early 1970s. Their series of fifteen books and counting has taught creative self-sufficiency and has preserved the stories, crafts, and customs of the unique Appalachian culture for future generations.

Traditionally, books in the Foxfire series have included a little something for everyone in each and every volume. For the first time ever, through the creation of The Foxfire Americana Library, this forty-five-year collection of knowledge has been organized by subject. Whether down-home recipes or simple tips for both your household and garden, each book holds a wealth of tried-and-true information, all passed down by unforgettable people with unforgettable voices.

W hen we talked about having an article on making soap, I remembered my grandmother saying that she was going to make some to sell at the October Harvest Festival in Dillard, Georgia. I asked Ma if she would mind having an audience. She said shed be glad to have us, so one day right after school four of us hit it up to Mas to watch. I was glad to have someone excited about meeting Ma. I knew she was a great person, and now I had the chance to share my enthusiasm with someone else.

She was all smiles and ready to go when we arrived. After she had added all the ingredients, she let all of us take turns stirring the soap.

Ma thought some of our questions were pretty funny, like when we asked about it being too harsh to wash your skin in. She said shed be proud to wash in it, and that it gets you as clean as regular soap. When we asked about putting perfume in the soap, I thought shed never stop laughing.

When we left that evening, we not only had some pictures and a reel of tape, but also several bars of homemade soap.

ANDREA BURRELL

The following photographs show Pearl Martin, Andreas grandmother, demonstrating the steps involved in making soap with store-bought Red Devil Lye. The captions are actual portions of the tape recording made there.

I LLUSTRATION 1 You put two pints and ahalf awater and one can lyeRed Devil Lyein your pot. You got to stir it til this dissolves good; then you got tadd thgrease to it. Then after you add thgrease, you got tstir it for twenty minutes.

Lyes dissolved now. Grease, this is thgrease. You just have water and grease and thlye. This is breakfast bacon grease. You can have anything. I had a man thother day offered to give me mutton tallow. You knowto make it out of. I think Ill take him up. Ive always used hog grease myselffive or six pounds for this here.

I LLUSTRATION 2 This is beginnin tget thick now. Looks a lot like chicken gravy dont it? I wish thiss alittle darker because homemade soaps always dark. Well, this is homemade soap, but its not like we used tmake it because we usedtdrip thlye.

I LLUSTRATION 3 Can you wash your clothes in it? Yeah, you can. Just take that, yknow, like we used towe took our clothes and put our soap on em and rubem and boilem. People dont do that now. And I aint afraid twash my hands in it! That there lard kills thlye. Why do you stir it so much? It requires it. It wouldnt make if you didnt dissolve it good. You got tget it thick like jelly, yknow. Ycant leave jelly til it gets right. (L-R: Elizabeth Rickman, Andrea, Emma Jean Buchanan, Mrs. Martin)

I LLUSTRATION 4 Did you ever add perfume to your soap? Ill tell you, we never did care. But you know, people nowadays like yourns ages, youns thinks its something terrible, but we never did care. We just had told smellin lye soap. Now I could put some perfume in this, and itd just be perfumed up like yourns. Ive got some tput in it youns thinks itd make it pretty. But we never did care. We always just made it and washed with it and we never thought nothin about it. But, of course, I guess lots of people nowadays thinks its fancy tsell it that ways, dont you guess? I believe Ill try this just to seehere she breaks up with laughterreckon it wouldnt kill it no ways would it? If itd do anything tmake it puny, youd hate tput it in there laughing.

Youns want me tput perfume in there? I can perfume it up for youns if you want. But Ill tell you; if for me, I like tsmell that. It smells like old times. Ive washed with homemade soap smuchit smells like homemade soap.

Now youd think thatd get on your hands, but that doesnt get on your hands at all tamount tanything. But course now, I wouldnt want tcomb mhair or do anything like that. Id wanta wash a little. But, why you can wash your hair in that! Itll bring th dirt out just as good as anything. You neednt worry about takinabath in that. It certainly wont hurt you. Ive took abath in it many a time. If I hadna known what lye soap was itd scare me tdeath. You neednt be scared of that though.

Well, dont you guess thats about enough? At this point, she leaves the pot. Shell stir it again in about half an hour, and then pour the thickened mixture into a shallow cake pan to harden overnight. When hard, shell cut it into blocks with a paring knife, lift the blocks out of the pan, and put them in a basket for sale later.

I LLUSTRATION 5 Daisy, when she went tth Fair last year, she got some. She got alittle piecewell, if you was tcut off a little slice there itd be about like she got. Her hand was chapped or somethin, and she got it trub on her hands, and she give a quarter for hern. I told em I couldnt sell that. I cut that in two, Id hate task a quarter fert.