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Granny Opal's Mountain Ways

The old mountain tricks every hiker ought to know before walking into these hills.

Come in and sit a while. I have lived my whole life up a hollow in these mountains, and I have watched too many folks walk in with good boots, a full phone, and no idea what the woods are telling them. The old people knew. How to read the sky before a storm comes over the ridge. The night rules of the hollow, and which lights in the laurel you leave alone. How to find clean water, keep a fire and a lamp going, and make do when the road gives out. I wrote it all down plain, in three little books, so it does not go in the ground with me.

See the books Read my letter
3 books29 chapters
87 pagesillustrated PDF
7 daysmoney back
Granny Opal on her porch with the mountains behind her
You don't have to live the old way to keep the old ways.Granny Opal
I. The Books

Start with the mountain tricks, or take the whole shelf home.

The Lost Mountain Skills is the practical one, all tricks and know-how. Books One and Two only come in the set, along with all 87 pages in one file. Either way it's a download, so you can be reading by the stove in about a minute.

The Lost Mountain Skills, Book Three
Book Three · 29 pages · 10 chapters

The Lost Mountain Skills

Weather signs, water, lamplight, the root cellar and lye soap. The forgotten know-how that kept a mountain family fed, warm and clean without a freezer or a power line.

  • Reading the sky and the signs before the weather turns
  • Finding and keeping good water, the old way
  • Lamp, fire, and getting through the long dark
  • The root cellar, the canning jar, and making do
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All three Granny Opal books side by side
3 books · 87 pages · 29 chapters

Granny Opal's Mountain Ways, all 3 books

  • Book One: The Plain Old Ways only in the set
  • Book Two: Keep the Door, Mind the Dark only in the set
  • Book Three: The Lost Mountain Skills
  • The Complete Collection, all 87 pages in one file
  • A ZIP with all three, one tap and you've got everything
$57one time · that's $19 a book
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II. What's Inside

Every chapter, laid out plain.

No filler and no fancy words. Each book is short enough to read in an evening and good enough to keep by the stove for years.

Cover of The Plain Old Ways
Book One · 30 pages only in the set

The Plain Old Ways

Herbs at dawn, roots in the rafters, rituals at the threshold, and the plain hard work of a mountain winter.

  • Up Before the SunWhy we gathered at first light, and the manners of the woods.
  • What Grew by the DoorThe dooryard herb patch, and how to keep one today.
  • Roots in the RaftersBundling, drying, putting up, and the truth about sang.
  • The Plants Mama Warned Us AboutThe poison ones, named as warnings and nothing else.
  • At the ThresholdThe little rituals at the door, and why they mattered.
  • Putting ByLeather britches, dried apples, kraut, and the cellar.
  • Keeping the Children WarmWood warms you twice, banking the fire, a warm bed.
  • When the Children Took SickWhat the old care was really made of, and when it meant the doctor.
  • The Year Went RoundThe mountain year, season by season.
  • What You Can KeepSix old ways that carry fine into a modern house.
Cover of Keep the Door, Mind the Dark
Book Two · 28 pages only in the set

Keep the Door, Mind the Dark

The old home protection customs, the night rules of the hollow, and the mountain warnings that kept families safe.

  • The Threshold Is a LineWhat crossed the doorsill mattered, so there were customs for it.
  • Iron Over the Door, Salt on the SillWhat hung over mountain doors, and the reasons under it.
  • The Night Rules of the HollowThe rules every child learned before dark.
  • What the Old Folks Watched ForThe sky, the creek, the animals, and the quiet.
  • Knocks, Birds, and Stopped ClocksThe old signs folks feared, and what I make of them.
  • Lights in the Woods, Voices in the LaurelThe after dark stories, and a few I still can't explain.
  • The Myth That Killed More Hikers Than the BearsOne piece of "wise" advice that is dead wrong in these mountains.
  • The Stories We Told the ChildrenThe scary ones that kept young'uns close to home, and why they worked.
  • Thirteen Home Protection SecretsThe ones modern locks will never match, and I still keep every one.
  • Sayings to Keep by the DoorShort ones, worth taping inside a cabinet.
Cover of The Lost Mountain Skills
Book Three · 29 pages also sold alone, $17

The Lost Mountain Skills

Root cellars, crock kraut, lye soap, lamplight, weather signs, and the know how that kept a family fed, warm and clean without a freezer or a power line.

  • The Cellar in the HillWhat the old cellar wanted, and what goes where.
  • Leather Britches and Apples on the TinDrying the harvest, then and today.
  • Salt, Smoke, and the Canning JarKraut in the crock, the smokehouse, and a straight word on canning.
  • The Apple Butter KettleThe all day stir at the kettle, and a way to do it today.
  • Lye Soap, Done SafeThe old way, why I won't teach ash lye, and a plain lard soap done right.
  • Lamp, Fire, and the Long DarkLaying a fire right, lighter knot, and the oil lamp.
  • Reading the Sky and the SignsWhich weather signs have sense behind them and which are just folklore.
  • Water From the HillThe spring, the springhouse, and the hard truth about clear water.
  • The Garden by the Old CalendarPlanting by the moon and the signs, and saving seed.
  • Mending and Making DoDarning, patching and turning, feed sack quilts, tools kept right.
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III. Look Inside

Real pages, straight from the books.

Big clear type, old engravings, and a letter from me at the end of each one. Tap a page to see it up close.

6 x 9 inch pages · reads easy on a phone · prints fine at home

IV. Told Straight

Some of it you'll use tomorrow. Some belongs in the past.

I don't dress the old days up. They were harder and colder than folks remember. So all through the books I tell you plain which is which.

Use it tomorrow

Keep these

  • Hang one bundle of mint or sage and learn to dry it right
  • A winter shelf that'd feed your family two weeks if the road closed
  • A sick day basket, ready before two in the morning comes
  • Brush cut back and the woodpile off the house
  • Somebody hears from you every single day
Just good to know

Remember these

  • Iron over the door and salt on the sill, and the sense under them
  • The night rules every hollow child learned by heart
  • Knocks, birds and stopped clocks, the signs folks feared
  • The scary stories told to keep young'uns close to home
  • Planting by the moon and the signs
Leave it behind

Not these

  • Making lye from wood ashes. I show you the safe, measured way instead
  • Canning by guesswork. Use tested guidance from your extension office
  • Eating any wild plant you can't name for certain
  • "Follow the water downhill" when you're lost. That one got people killed

That's the difference between these books and a pretty old saying on the internet.

Granny Opal in her cabin kitchen with herbs drying from the rafters
On the porch, up the hollow
V. A Letter From Granny

Pull up a chair. That one by the stove is the good one.

Dear friend,

My mama raised seven of us in a house with one lamp worth anything, a cookstove, a spring box, and more work than daylight. Five of us lived to be grown. In those days, that was counted lucky.

I learned the old ways from her and from her mother, Granny Dell, who was small as a sparrow and knew every plant between our porch and the ridge. She used to say the woods will feed you, warm you, and kill you, all three on the same walk if you don't mind yourself.

I didn't write these books because I think the old days were better. They weren't. But there was something in how we lived that the world has mostly lost, and I didn't want to go without leaving it somewhere.

The old ways didn't die because they were wrong. They died because nobody wrote them down.

It was the paying attention. Getting up before the sun. Knowing which plant would help you and which would hurt you. Counting the jars on the cellar shelf. Sitting up all night by the lamp, listening to a child breathe. That's all the secret there ever was.

Take what's useful and leave the rest. Please mind the warnings. And if you've got a granny of your own still living, go sit with her this week and ask her how it was. She's waiting for somebody to ask. We all are.

The kettle's on.

Granny Opal

Granny Opal is a storytelling character, the voice of the Appalachian Granny channel. The ways in these books are real mountain tradition and history, told in her voice. Her family memories are storytelling shaped from that tradition, just like it says at the front of every book.

VI. Take Them Home

Pay once. Keep them forever.

Your download page opens the second you pay. Read on your phone, tablet or computer, or print the pages at the kitchen table.

The Lost Mountain Skills

Book Three

The Lost Mountain Skills. 29 pages, 10 chapters. All tricks and know-how.

$17one time
Get The Lost Mountain Skills
All three books

All 3 books

All three PDFs, plus the complete 87 page collection in one file and a ZIP. Books One and Two are only here. Code OPAL10 takes 10% off.

$57$19 a book
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If it ain't for you, you get every cent back. Reply to your receipt email within 7 days and say so. No questions, no forms, and you keep the books.

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VII. Questions

What folks ask before they buy.

What do I get after I pay?

A download page opens right after checkout. The Lost Mountain Skills gets you that PDF. The 3 book set gets you all three PDFs, the complete collection in one file, and a ZIP of the lot. Nothing ships and there's no account to make. Save the files right away and bookmark the page, just in case.

Does it work on my phone?

Yep. They're regular PDFs, so they open on any phone, tablet, Kindle Fire, laptop or desktop. On an iPhone, tap the download, then open it in Files or Books. You can print them at home too, the pages are a tidy 6 by 9 inches.

Can I buy Book One or Book Two by itself?

Not right now. The Lost Mountain Skills is sold alone so you can try my way of telling it first. Books One and Two only come in the 3 book set for $57, and code OPAL10 takes 10% off that.

Is this medical advice?

No, and I say so at the front of every book. This is folklore and history. For anything serious, the old folks went for the doctor too, and you do the same. The poison plants are named as warnings only. There are no recipes for them, and there never will be.

Is Granny Opal a real person?

Granny Opal is a storytelling character, the voice of the Appalachian Granny channel. The customs, skills and warnings in these books are real Appalachian tradition and history, told in her voice. Her family memories are mountain storytelling, not a historical record.

Is this a subscription?

Nope. You pay once and the books are yours for good.

What if it's not for me?

7 days, money back, and you keep the files. Reply to your receipt email and say so. No questions, no forms.

Can I share it?

Print as many copies as you like for your own home. Please don't pass the file around, though. An old woman's got to keep the lamp lit too.

Last call from the porch

Somebody ought to write it down. So I did.

Three books, 87 pages, the old mountain ways told plain. Pay once, download in a minute, 7 days to change your mind.

Get all 3 books · $57 Just The Lost Mountain Skills · $17