I was going thru some old photos and came across this picture of Mark after one of his squirrel hunting trips. It reminded me of my Grandma and how she had lots of squirrels in her backyard. There was one squirrel that she would feed out of her hand that she named Foxy. When my sister and I were younger we would call Foxy out from hiding and he would come and eat.
My Grandma was born in 1909 and grew up on a farm in Kentucky with two brothers. When we were growing up we spent a lot of time at my Grandma’s house. My sister and I would spend Saturday nights there so we could go to church on Sundays. My Grandma was always properly dressed in suits or dresses, got her hair done every other week and never went out of the house without makeup on. She was a very proper lady yet was still doing yard work, cleaning out her gutters and painting her house up into her 70’s. The neighbors had strict orders to call my Mom if they caught her.
After Mark and I were married and he was off on one of his squirrel hunts he called to let me know he had a few squirrels for my Grandma. I was unaware of this arrangement and I was in disbelief why she wanted them. When it comes to certain hunting issues I always seem to ask Mark to repeat himself. This was one of those times. He very slowly and clearly said, “Your Grandma is going to cook them and eat them.” In the defense of Foxy I said very clearly, ”No she isn’t.” When things go wrong or bad or I feel like complaining, I call my Mother. So I call my Mom to ask what my Grandma was doing with squirrels. She confirmed … the frying of Foxy.
I was mortified. This was the proper lady that dresses up everyday and goes to church and feeds Foxy out of her hand and she is going to flour him, salt & pepper him and fry him up. I called my Grandma and firmly stated ”You are not frying Foxy!” She said, “Well I am.” I said in my begging spoiled tone, “You can’t. That is Foxy and if you do that I won’t go to church with you anymore.”
My Grandma was a strong, independent woman that lived up until a month before her 97th birthday. She survived the tragic death of her first husband, took care of her second husband, who in his latter years suffered from Alzheimer’s and she was a breast cancer survivor. She had seen many historic events in her 96 years of life.
I had always perceived her to be a “proper lady” when in fact she was a little farm girl who grew up in Kentucky and knew the sacrifices a family needed to make. If it was putting a squirrel, chicken, rabbit or venison on the table – that is what they did. But it wasn’t a sacrifice to her. It was a thankful enjoyable dinner.
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Great story and obviously a great memory of her! Thanks for sharing that…
my husbands grandpa used to go shoot a squirrel every morning for breakfast — obviously before seasons and regulations took hold in his back country town and my husband remembers his grandma making squirrel brains and scrambled eggs for breakfast – I told him I’ll cook the squirrel but forget about brains and scrambled eggs – there is no way I’m doing that!
Great story! And btw, squirrels are tasty! I’d say your grandma merely understood that a fat and happy squirrel is a tasty squirrel when she indulged the kids’ desire to feed Foxy.
Squirrels are tasty. I do agree. I can totally understand why your Grandma wanted to eat them although I’m sure it did comes as a shock.
What a great story. I haven’t wrapped my head around the idea of eating a squirrel yet, but I imagine I probably will at least try squirrel one day.
Sounds like your grandmother was a really interesting lady.
Jeff, we have lots of great memories of my Grandma. She passed away in October of 2006.
Blessed, I can’t think about what you said.
Norcal, I would have guessed you would have thought like that. It was funny but probably true.
Arthur, I was in complete shock.
Kristine, my Dad will still eat it. My Mom doesn’t but will cook it for him. My Grandma was a very interesting lady and a huge Cubs fan.
You must check out this video! It contains a few annoying barbs, like the notion that game meat might somehow be unsafe to eat (yeah, let’s talk about the e coli pouring out of confined animal feeding operations!), but it’s still really funny: http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2008/01/in-videos-explainer-can-you-eat-squirrels.html
Holly, leave it to you. It was cute but I didn’t need to know about the brain part. Help me!
Your grandma remains a proper lady despite her “frying foxy”. It’s true, squirrels are cute and naughty nut-munching speedies. But if needs be, they can also be fried to feed hungry mouths. And did grandma tried barbecue-ing?
I just found your blog by way of The Pioneer Woman.
I, too, live in Indiana and my family is from eastern Kentucky. I was actually born in Hazard, KY but raised in southern Indiana.
So, hi!
Ben, my Grandma fried just about everything and there was always bread and butter on the table.
Dara, thanks for visiting. My grandparents and parents are from Paducah. They all moved north for work at the steel mills. We still have family in Paducah and visit once or twice a year.
That’s a great story! Reminds me a lot of my grandmother!
Just found your blog and really enjoyed reading it.