Ann and the children and I moved from our little farm in Wytheville so that I could retrain for a new career. It meant leaving behind our best friend, Zachary, a six year old Black Lab. It was for his own good; he would be miserable penned up in suburban Birmingham.
The standing corn browns and curls and our deep valley grows colder in the shadows of these shortening September days. The canning is laid by, and we celebrate the end of long months of kneeling servitude to the trowel and the watering can.
A reader informs us: Don’t respond to emails, phone calls, or pages that ask you to call a phone number with the 809 prefix! You may be charged over $100 in unrecoverable fees.
FloydFest is a non-profit non-commercial grassroots event focusing on cultural preservation by showcasing diverse musical genres from around the world. “This is really about cultural survival and awareness,” says festival co-founder Kris Hodges. “Without its roots, the tree falls over.” The festival features three additional stages, including workshop arenas, and several specially themed areas. The […]
On a recent drive across the east end of the county, my wife and I took roads we’d traveled often, before we moved to Goose Creek.
Four years ago, March, the old field across from the house was choked with 13-year-old White Pine trees. (You can count the number of whirls of branches and age them in this way.) They had been planted, we were told, to harvest as Christmas trees. Paid for ‘by the tree’ they were planted way too […]
It amazes me how a leaf knows when its time has come to fall. Perhaps some combination of day length and temperature gives the signal. But maybe it’s just the good taste to abort, an inner sensitivity to the needs of the whole, giving its parent tree a chance to hibernate with its blood gone […]
The former Dulaney’s Store in Alum Ridge, has recently been transformed into an exciting musical venue, now known as The Old Store.
It is said that there are now over one million weblogs, or ‘blogs’ maintained and published around the world. I am coming to appreciate my place in a minority in that population, since I am among a very small number who write from the Appalachians.
Black powder is a type of gunpowder invented in the 9th century and was practically the only known propellant and explosive until the middle of the 19th century. It is still manufactured today but primarily for use in fireworks, model rocket engines, and reproductions of muzzleloading weapons.