If you enjoy the Appalachian culture, you'll love the FOXFIRE books. Volume No. 5 covers bear hunting, blacksmithing and gun making. If you've never read these books, it may be difficult, since the text is written in the vernacular of the mountain folk, but this adds to the charm and "character" of the books. The bear hunting stories wer entertaining, but I really enjoyed reading about Hacker Martin and Hershall House. If you want to know how life really was in the Smokey Mountains, read this book.

One of our nation's treasures is being lost one person at a time, and because of Eliot Wigginton, at least some of the treasure is being documented. The people of Appalachia have been marginalized and treated as backwoods hicks and hillbillies, only because of their poverty. That is what makes the richness of their culture all the more amazing. These people live on what an average family throws away every day. They're frugal, resourceful, and highly intelligent. This book only serves to prove it.

If you haven't spent time with hill people, your live is incomplete.

If you need info on Hacker Martin, the famous gunmaker, this is the book!

From the cover:, " The students, none of whom had ever been to Aunt Arie's before, were awed, drawn inexorably into the little circle of activity that surrounded this 5' 6" dynamo who laughed and pecked on each of them and tapped their shoulders and grasped their knees and tried to remember their names and loved them, instantly, and without reservation-strangers all". This book is wonder full, and heart full, and shines a little light into a way of being that is fast becoming a just catchy phrase on a hall mark card.

The series of Foxfire books takes you back in time when life was hard physically but simplier mentally. While reading these books I fell like I am in a time capsule being transported back in time ninety or so years. I enjoy past history and anything to do with mountain country around the Smokies. These peope lived off the land and took the time to enjoy life and their families. These books provide tips for things that are still done the same way, such as tanning hides. Norma Doyle, Florida

Being a native of rural Appalachia, we owe so much to Mr. Wiggington for the preservation of our culture. No other, in my knowledge has done so much. The entire seires of Foxfire books is a tribute to the plain, industrious, pragmatic, proud mountain ways that I so fondly recall from my childhood. Whether you are doing research, or simply trying to remember how granddaddy did it, these books are an excellent source of knowledge.

The entire Fox Fire colledtion should be required reading for all people of this country. You would get a feel for where we came from and our heritage. The books show a deep respect for each other, God and country. Very good.

What makes this book so special is the narratives with each recipe. It is as though you are sitting in a West Virginia or Carolina kitchen with family long-gone, listening, as they tell how to make that special family recipe. As I have researched my family roots, I've often wished I could have known some of my ancestors from this part of the country, what their stories were, their everyday experiences. This book is a jewel and the recipes are absolute treasures. The memories it holds are a bit of disappearing Americana. This is comfort food at its best and a sampling of the simple lives and times that brought it to us. The canning recipes are some of the best you'll find anywhere. It even has recipes for squirrel, possum and other mountain delicacies that I've heard in family stories (but oooh, who'd want to eat them now?!) We've laughed and sighed as we poured over each page, each story. This will be a book you'll cherish.

This book along with the nine preceding this one, should be required reading for anyone interested in the day to day living of early days in the south.

I am a serious cook with a large cookbook library. I am a Southerner who made my first biscuits and gravy at age 5. This book is a not-so-well done re-hash of other Foxfires and sorely disappointing. It is difficult to use as a cookbook-more poignant than useful. Also a tad light on recipes. A much better book from North Georgia (Southern Appalachia, like the Foxfire series) is Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread & Scuppernong Wine: The Folklore and Art of Southern Appalachian Cooking. I use this one a lot, enjoy reading the stories, and frequently give it as gift to visiting Yankees. Plus it has the wit, charm, and authenticity so sadly missing from the Foxfire Cookbook.

Got this as a gift and what a treat it is proving to be. It is a book that is really helping me broaden my homesteading skills and I adore the running dialogue and photographs that show the how to's and bring back wonderful memories of growing up.

The recipes are good and easy and delicious and I like the discussion of how to dress out livestock and wild game as well as how to make crock pickles and things like sauerkraut which I love doing. I also like, but some people may be turned off by the meat section that deals with waste not want not, and how to make use of most of the animal one slaughters. Something my family knew well when I was growing up.

This is also a good book is someone simply wants to learn about how self sufficiency works and how most people used to live, especially in rural areas.

It is my favorite and most usable of all the Foxfire books.

I have bought many, many cookbooks not for cooking, but for reading. My favorite format in cookbooks are those where text is woven with recipes; it 'fleshes out' the recipes.

Anyone who has derived pleasure from reading the Foxfire series over the years will also want to buy this one. It follows the general Foxfire format, specialized for cooking. It will be of particular value for those young people interested in cooking. As becomes apparent, cooking in this country used to be quite different from what we consider it now. For most Americans, by the end of WW II kitchens had been transformed by the addition of running water and gas/electric powered appliances. My grandparents didn't get electricity in their rural location until 1948. Before then, there was a kerosene-powered refrigerator, gasoline-powered washer, and wood stove. It took longer for many in the Appalachian region, and 'old' cooking methods continued to be used. Fixing chicken, for example, meant killing and plucking, not going to the grocery store!

History always becomes more immediate when it can be related to 'real' people. The characters in this book come to life with the sensitive narration, and only grow in depth with re-reading.

I've tried some of the recipes in this book, especially those related to baking. All have worked well. Mere recipes, though, can't communicate the commitment and love that these people have given to their efforts.

This is a great book to read, and a good pathway to cooking methods of our ancestors. Comprehensive, and an excellent buy!

These books are very interesting and full of knoweledge from our past history. My relatives were from the deep south especialy around the Roam Mountain area;this is where my grandmother and grandfather were from. This information let me know what they went thru doing their life. The Garlands and The Hughes. Thanks again.Gettysburg,Pa.

If you're interested in how people did things before Wal-mart, you might want to check out Foxfire 6, as well as the rest of the Foxfire series of books (1-10)... These focus on Appalachian living, and how Appalachian folks did things before moderization. These are the only books I know of that truly show you hands on ways to make instruments, locks, dig a well, make toys, and even cook a good meal--- simply. Another good thing is that even though they are very complete, they are actually pretty interesting to read. Most survival-type books are focused on all sorts of weird Armageddon/nuclear war stuff, but these are just records of how life used to be. All in all, a worthy purchase for anyone interested in actually learning something.