Who’s in the kitchen?

by Jessica Pope • Photos by Pat Gallagher

Tommy Greene was born Thomas Harvey Greene Jr. on October 28, 1938. The 69-year-old grew up in the woods and swamps of northern Florida, the county of Madison.

“I was born with far more energy than control, and I am sure I was my mother and daddy’s worst nightmare,” he said enthusiastically. “Even though my engine was hitting on all eight, I am sure many thought my pistons were swapping cylinders.”

Greene routinely woke each morning at 4 a.m., a few hours before sunrise. Rain or shine, he milked cows and fed all the hogs, mules, horses, chickens, oxen and other such livestock when they were on the farm.

“During the ‘R’ months, (or the time period from September through April), I worked my traplines,” he noted. “The animals and birds that were caught were either eaten or sold. Then ... (I) got ready for school.”

Greene spent his Christmas holidays from school planting pine trees. He only received two days off — Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

“Daddy would take us to town on Christmas Eve, and Christmas (Day) was family day,” he shared.

Sunday mornings always belonged to Greene and his brother, both of whom enjoyed church services with their mother. In the summer months between the end of one school year and start of another, he worked the crosstie swamps and turpentine woods.

“We only went to town on Saturday afternoons,” he continued, recalling even more memories from his childhood days. “We were always in the woods before daybreak and worked until dark. Broken equipment was repaired at night, so it would be ready for the next morning.”

Unlike other children his age, Greene was never asked to help out in the kitchen. His parents had a maid who did all of that. His chores pretty much kept him outside on the farm or in the woods and swamps of north Florida.

“Daddy was a timber merchant covering all facets of the industry, and my mother oversaw (each of) the bookkeepers,” he shared. “My brother and I were always told that we needed to be working in the business, not keeping house.”

While he was successful both on the farm and in the woods and swamps, Greene was never able to duplicate that success in the classroom. He said his parents did their very best to ensure he received a quality education. However, his brain did not want to cooperate, although he put in the effort.

“... after going through the Georgia and Florida schools systems like I was taking a census, failing English seven times, my folks realized that passing grades were forever alluding me,” he added.

When the Vietnam War started, Greene made the decision to join the United States Army. He shared how basic training camp — compared to life back home — felt more like a Boy Scout retreat or a fun summer camp. Surviving it was a piece of cake.

As an adult, Greene passed along all the skills he learned as a boy living and working in the swamps and woods of northern Florida to his own children — Thomas Harvey Greene III, Emerald Greene and William Greene. He took them camping and taught them about the wild at very young ages.

“The two things they learned early in life were survival in the woods and you don’t have to know what you are eating for it to be good,” he said. “The children learned early that if you killed it, you ate it. God created the birds and the critters for us to enjoy and protect. Man came up with the grocery store.”

If at some point all the grocery stores close down, Greene wanted his children to be able to continue surviving. He added, “I didn’t want them to ever have to depend on anyone else ... this was my way of exposing them to the elements and learning to fend for themselves. It was a time of, as is themed today, family bonding.”

Eager to share some of his wild secrets with north Floridians and south Georgians, Greene wrote the cookbook “Florida Cookin’ Wild Style.” He filled its pages with more than 1,000 of his favorite recipes — a historical record of sorts as he feared so many of the old recipes would be lost forever otherwise.

“Growing up in the woods (and) in the swamps of north Florida, the women would fix the men their lunch buckets and the only meat in these dinner buckets was either pork or wild game,” he shared. “Beef and chicken was virtually unheard of during those years. The people with beef ... they were sold for money ... and chickens were kept for eggs and chicken and dumplings or fried chicken on Sunday when the preacher came.”

Greene noted that any grocery store meat can be used in place of the wild game meat — some might include animals that are illegal so he asked that all hunters learn and obey game laws — called for in his cookbook recipes. His personal favorite recipes are made with the meat of feral cats, bobcats and even skunks. He said they have the sweetest meat.

When asked if he enjoys cooking, Greene replied, “Yes ... I much prefer cooked meat to raw ... to me, cooking is like an artist with a large assortment of paint colors and a board ... just mix it up and it will usually turn out OK.”

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