Blind Pig & The Acorn

Garden Folklore From Appalachia

A comment left by B. Ruth got me to thinking about all the old folklore I've heard about the garden and about the outdoors in general.

• Never plant vegetables that sound alike together. Think potato and tomato. (Pap told me that one)
• Never say thank you if someone shares their flowers or plant cuttings with you-if you do they will die. (I've heard this one my whole life-and man is it hard not to automatically say thank you when someone gives you plants)
• If you find a horse shoe-you should hang it in the nearest tree for good luck. (It's not as common to find horse shoes now-as it once was. I have found a few in the big garden-but I hung them on my porch instead of a tree)
• Finding a 4 leaf clover is good luck. (My sister-n-law can walk outside and find a 4 leaf clover instantly-I don't think I've found more than 2 in my whole life)
• To keep crows from bothering your garden, kill one and hang it nearby.

• Trees that bloom twice in one year will have a bad crop. (Pap says he's seen June apples bloom twice more than once)
• If you spit in your hands when cutting wood-you'll have good luck. (Pap said-the spit just helps you hold on better. Holding on to the ax always = good luck)
• Don't plant your garden until the oak leaves are the size of mouse ears. (from B. Ruth)
• Always plant your potatoes on Good Friday.
• Plant your greenbeans on Good Friday.
• Anything planted on the first day of Spring will live.
• Bury nails around the roots of Hydrangea to make the blooms blue.

These last few are courtesy of Scott Nicholson: 

• Grass won't grow where human blood has been spilled.
• Flowers which bloom out of season are evil. (I'm not sure why-but this one is my favorite)
• Dreaming of thorns is bad luck.
• Tomatoes should be planted on Memorial Day.
• It's good luck to steal herbs. (what?) 
• A snowy winter portends a good year for crops. (most of the US should do well this year)
• After planting a hill of beans, press the soil with your foot for good luck. (Pap always does this-who knew it was lucky-I always liked seeing his bootprints on top of all the mounds-somehow it seemed like the bootprints symbolized a job well done)
• Planting peppers when your mad, makes the peppers grow hotter.
• If 2 people's hoes hit together, they will work in the same field next year.

Makes me wonder who started the sayings and why. Have you heard any of these before? Do you have any to add?

Tipper

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Burning The Garden

Ever heard of burning the garden? A recent post by Granny Sue brought back a memory so sharp and real that I could smell the smoke, hear the fire crackle as it caught and took off across the field, feel the heat as my cousins and me ran laughing pretending it was chasing us all the while being comforted by the sound of the grownups talking-knowing they wouldn't let any of us get close enough to be burned-maybe close enough to teach us a lesson-but never close enough to be hurt badly.

 

My Mamaw, Pap's Mother, died when I was in 5th grade. In the years before her death, my family would have a garden of our own at home, but also go in with Mamaw, Papaw, and my Uncles to make a larger one-usually the one together would be a huge potato patch, a big corn field, or maybe both. 

In the Spring of the year, they'd burn off the gardens. Seems it would be one of those warm March or April days when the heat of the day teases you of the summer to come-but as soon as the sun goes down you realize Old Man Winter isn't completely ready to let go yet.

Pap tells me when he was a boy, folks would not only burn off their gardens each spring-they would also burn off the woods surrounding their homes. I found this quote by Lillie Nix in my Foxfire 11 book:

"In the spring of the year, about March, the men of the community would go out and burn the woods. It didn't kill the timber because the sap wasn't up, but it caused the grass to come up tender, and the cattle could feed on that."

Pap said they burned the fields and the woods to kill off insects/disease, to keep the undergrowth of the forests down, and to make the grass grow better.

Burning the garden beds aided in killing disease as well as weed seeds and added potash to the soil. Pap especially remembers them burning the tobacco, tomato, and cabbage beds. After they were burned, the seeds would be sowed directly in the warm ground, and a sheet or old piece of cloth would be tented to cover the whole bed-much the same as Granny Sue and Larry did their lettuce bed.

Pap said once the Forest Service was established, they stopped the annual burning of the woods. According to Pap, in the beginning they couldn't keep up with everyone but as time went on they got better at finding the folks who were burning and each year it seemed there was less folks who grew a garden or kept animals anyway.

Pap believes the annual burning of the woods kept them purified, he thinks all the diseased timber we have now (pine beetles, wooly adelgid, oak decline, etc.) is a direct result of the ban put on burning. Does make you wonder-of course there are too many houses for burning the woods now.

 

We don't burn our gardens anymore-I could say mine is too small and laid out in different parts of the yard-but truth is-I guess we're lazy and guilty of letting another part of our heritage fall by the way. 

After getting my memory jolted by Granny Sue, I haven't been able to shake the feeling of it-makes me wish I could go back just one more time too being the little girl with a ponytail standing at the edge of the big garden-go back to feel the safety and love of the circle of grown ups who not only watched out for me but taught me the things I know-taught me who I am.

The Deer Hunter and I are following in Pap and Granny's footsteps. We have our own garden at home-and then a bigger one with Granny, Pap, and my brothers. You can see in the photo above-Chitter and Chatter are making their own memories, working in Pap's big garden along side their cousins-just like I did once upon a time.

Do you burn your garden-did your parents-grandparents?

Tipper
 

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A Brief Dictionary Of Seed Descriptions Found In Seed Catalogs

Today's post is written by Dean Mullis from Laughing Owl Farm. A few months ago, I asked Dean if he could explain the different types of seeds to me. I was thoroughly confused about what you should look for if you wanted to save your seeds year to year. Dean not only explained it to me-he wrote me a Dictionary of Seeds.

A Brief Dictionary Of Seed Descriptions Found In Seed Catalogs

Looking through your favorite seed catalog can be a bewildering experience. Terms such as hybrid, heirloom, open-pollinated, etc. are used to describe the seeds. There are treated seeds, conventional seeds, organic seeds, and even GMO seeds. What does it all mean?

There are two basic types of seeds in your favorite seed catalog, open-pollinated or hybrid.

So, what does that mean? If your aim is to just grow a garden and don't intend to save seeds, it means you don't have to worry about whether the seed is open-pollinated or hybrid, just buy the seeds you want to grow. Some of the other seed descriptions might influence your purchase though.

Below are some basic definitions but even at a basic level it can get a bit confusing.

Open-pollinated seeds – These are seeds that if you save and re-plant, you will get basically the same plants next year. In the seed catalog, these may be listed as open-pollinated, OP, or no description at all. Until open-pollinated seeds became a buzzword, it was understood that unless a variety was listed as a hybrid, it was open-pollinated. If you save seed from OP seeds it does not mean you will get cookie cutter offspring the next year. The seeds are genetically diverse. For example, there are several strains of Brandywine tomato. Different folks have saved Brandywine seed for different traits based on size, color, flavor, yield, etc.

Hybrid seeds – Hybridization of seeds occurs naturally and has been practiced by farmers in a hit and miss fashion for thousand's of years. It is basically when two varieties in the same family of plants cross-pollinate to produce a third variety. You may remember Mendel's experiments with peas in the 1860's this from freshman high school biology.

What modern hybridization does is take the best traits from two different similar varieties, called parent lines, and creates a third variety that has valuable traits. This may be better disease resistance, better flavor, greater yields, etc. Hybridization is an exact science now.

Seeds from a hybrid will not come true, the seed will revert back to one of the parent lines.

A common example of this is when volunteer tomatoes  sprout up in the garden or compost pile and produce small tomatoes we always called “tommy toes”.

Hybrid seeds will be listed in the seed catalog as hybrid, F1, or F1 hybrid. F1 means it is a first generation cross.

Now to get into the mess of the rest of the descriptions..

Organic – certified to be grown without chemical inputs, may be OP or hybrid.

Heirloom – variety that has been passed down for generations, always OP but may not be organic, may be conventional and treated but probably not.

Treated – seed coated with fungicide, not organic, could be OP or hybrid.

Conventional – not certified organic. Could be treated, heirloom, OP or hybrid.

GMO seed – Not a problem yet with garden seed but it is looming on the horizon.

GMO stands for genetically modified organism. It involves manipulating genes of different species and inserting them into the DNA of seeds of commercial agricultural crops. The most common application is commercial corn, cotton, and soybeans that have been engineered to be Round-up Ready, which means these plants have been genetically engineered to live when sprayed with Round-Up while every other living plant in the field is killed by the herbicide Round-Up.

What most people do not realize is the vastness of GMO crops in NC and the USA.

Those fields of corn and soybeans you drive past, and cotton in the eastern half of NC are mostly GMO crops. 95% of the soybeans grown, 80% of the corn, and 65% of the cotton are GMO crops.

Because high fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, and cottonseed oil, are used so much in the processing of what passes for food in our grocery stores, 60-70% of the food in the grocery store contains ingredients from GMO crops.

Gardening / Seed Buying Advice

Don't get too hung up on the definitions, what you grow in your garden is going to be much better than what is available at the grocery store. The garden I grew up with was not organic, we planted pink seeds, daddy used 10-10-10 fertilizer, and Momma was fond of Sevin dust.

They still do it that way. 2010 is our 22^nd year of organic market farming. I would rather eat a tomato or beans freshly picked out of Momma's garden any day over certified organic stuff from California that has spent a week on a truck.

by Dean Mullis

I hope Dean's Dictionary gave you a better understanding of seed types-I know it cleared up my confusion. Dean has a great site-Laughing Owl Farm. You can subscribe to his free newsletter-it's always full of interesting goings on at his farm and it's full of humor too. If you're lucky enough to live in the Charlotte NC area-you can find Dean or his wife at one of the local markets selling their organic produce and eggs.

Tipper

 

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Planting By The Signs For March 2010

I've been itching to get my early spring veggies planted-but as I've told you before-I'm determined to plant my entire garden by the signs this year. Between my busy life and Mother Nature-I've already had a taste of how hard fulfilling that dream may be. 

During the right days for planting root crops last week, I had appointments, work, and mushroom growing to do. I could have planted on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday this week-but the signs weren't right. Yesterday was taken up by a busy schedule-and this morning I awoke to rain clouds and a forecast for heavy rain through tomorrow.

After dropping the girls at school, I came home and hurriedly put my work clothes on. As soon as I stepped outside the basement door I felt the rain start. I turned around, took my boots off and came back upstairs-defeated-fretting that I would have to wait till the end of the month to plant what I was hoping to plant today. I kept running to the back deck to check on the rain-when finally I realized-I won't melt and I might have time to plant at least one thing before the heavier rain started.

As I pulled my boots back on and headed out-I kept thinking of the old song-"I fought the law and the law won" except I was singing "I fought the signs and the signs won". I quickly re-built one of my long narrow beds by turning the soil over and adding some mushroom compost along with some of my compost. 

Before I knew it-I had it done. A bed full of radishes and a bed with 2 different types of onions-all planted by the signs. I was dirty and soaking wet-but hey I fought the signs and won-at least for today.

Tipper

p.s. I can't wait to see if the seeds-supplied by Hometown Seeds do better than what I've used in the past-I'm so happy they're sponsoring my garden! If you haven't purchased your gardening supplies yet-jump over to their site and look around. Through April 30, 2010 Hometown Seeds is offering a 10% discount on orders to Blind Pig & the Acorn Readers. Just enter the coupon code "blind" when you check out.

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Growing Mushrooms - To Eat

I first read about growing mushrooms in a Carolina Country magazine a few years ago. If I remember accurately, the article was detailing how farmers in NC and GA had a new commerical crop to grow-mushrooms.

As a mushroom lover-I was immediately interested-but it sounded like the cost of getting started would probably be to much for me to afford. A few weeks ago I found out-I was totally wrong.

I attended a Shiitake Mushroom Workshop held by the Cherokee, Clay, and Graham County Extension Offices. Their guest instructor was Christy Bredenkamp who works for the Jackson County Extension Office. Christy was a commercial mushroom grower for years, and today she continues to grow Shiitakes on a smaller scale.

Christy was an excellent teacher-not only very knowledgeable-but she has such an engaging personality I do believe I could have listened to her talk about any subject and enjoyed it.

After the instruction portion of the class, each student got first hand experience with the beginning of mushroom growing-by inoculating their own logs. I left the class knowing how to grow Shiitake mushrooms-and knowing I wouldn't have to take out a loan to do so-but I better get on the ball if I wanted to start this year cause-when growing Shiitakes there is a window of time during which the logs should be inoculated.

Last Saturday morning with snow still on the ground, the Blind Pig family begin our attempt at growing Shiitake Mushrooms.

 

The logs should be cut in late winter or early spring actually anytime when the tree leaves turn brown in the Fall through the Winter and up to 2-3 weeks before the green leaf buds come out in the Spring-that's when trees are in their dormant stage. What logs can you use? Christy said Oak are best but success has been achieved by using Sweetgum and hard Maple trees. After you cut the logs-you need to inoculate them pretty quickly-the quicker the better-within 3 weeks of cutting them in lengths. Some thought should be given to the size of the logs. At some point down the road you'll be handling the logs as you soak them during the growing season. Large logs last longer, and of course grow more mushrooms-but are difficult for the typical home grower to handle. We took our cue from the class-and cut our logs 3 to 4 feet in length and 4 to 8 inches in diameter. You could cut them even smaller if you wanted to.

During the class we used sawdust Shiitake spawn to inoculate the log. Since then, I've discovered spawn also comes in plugs that you hammer into the logs. Wanting to use the knowledge I learned at the workshop we went with the sawdust spawn. Having an Inoculation Tool makes the sawdust spawn easy to insert in the holes. However, Christy said she had great success by just using her fingers to press the spawn into the holes.

 

After you get the logs cut-the next step is drilling holes in them. Holes (7/16 inch bit) should be spaced 5 to 8 inches apart down the length of the log and 2 1/2 inches across. In other words you'll have several long rolls of holes on each log.

We put our spawn in a bucket to make it easier to work with. You kinda stab the inoculation tool into the spawn until it fills; place it over a hole; press the plunger; and voila you've just inoculated a log with mushroom spawn.

After you've inoculated all the holes, you must seal them with a layer of wax. Christy taught us-it doesn't really matter what kind of wax you use-even candles would work-and of course bee's wax would as well. At the class they melted their wax in an old crock pot. We had a fire going to warm by-so we just set a pan on the fire to melt ours. To apply the layer of wax you can use daubers or a paint brush.

Once the logs are inoculated you have to decide what to do with them. They need to be kept in a shady place-but not under a shed-they need to be rained on. There are many ways of stacking-but the 2 they taught us about at the class were crib stacking and lean to stacking. Lean to stacking basically just means leaning the logs up against something like a wire or fence. Crib stacking-is like building lincoln logs. Christy said she preferred the crib method because once the mushrooms start growing they are easier to harvest-cause you can reach your hands in and around the logs-the downside being-you have to lift the logs more. We went with the crib stack method. When the logs are stacked thats it-you just leave the logs alone until it's time for the mushrooms to start growing. Once I reach that point-I'll show you the next step. One other thought-the logs will have to be soaked at a later date-so if you live near a water source-you might want to put your stack in a shady area close to the water. The logs need to be soaked during the spawn run, either with a sprinkler or by immersing in water for about 8 hours. This is important because the biggest cause of failure is the logs getting dehydrated. It is also important to let the bark get dry between soakings.

So now you're wondering how long till I have some mushrooms? Well it'll takes a while-at least 6 to 9 months-maybe longer. But once you get them established Shiitake mushrooms will continue to grow on the logs until they rot away-typically 3 to 4 years. 

The good folks at MushroomPeople.com have been a huge help to my new Shiitake Mushroom growing venture. Jump over to their site and look around-they have anything you'd ever need when it comes to growing mushrooms-books, instructions, tools, spawn-you can even buy a small mushroom kit that comes ready to grow-and by checking around the web I've found you cannot beat their prices either.

Know anyone who grows mushrooms? Got questions about the process?

Tipper

p.s. Christy and the guys from the extension offices were great on the day of the class-and I highly encourage you to check out your own County Extension office-I've found mine to not only be a wealth of information-but a fountain of encouragement as well. For more detailed information about growing Shiitake Mushrooms check out their publication by clicking here.

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Appalachian Vocabulary Test 17

 

Time for this month's Appalachian Vocabulary Test-take it and see how you do:

1. Het
2. Heared
3. Hog Rifle
4. Holp
5. Holler

1. Het: to become upset or angry. "I don't know what her problem is, but she sure is het up about something."
2. Heared: heard. "I heared they were going to have a square dance down to the armory."
3. Hog rifle: muzzle loader. "Your son went and sold Grandpa's hog rifle to pay for some souped up engine!"
4. Holp: help. "I used to holp old man Hollingsworth put up his tobacco ever year."
5. Holler: "The prettiest girl you ever saw lives in that little holler just beyond the second ridge of the mountain."

So how did you do? I hear all of this month's words on a regular basis-except holp-although I do remember my Granny using holp for help when I was growing up. Leave me a comment and tell me which ones you knew.

Tipper

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Growing A Garden In 2010

Each year-the closer it gets to planting time the more excited I get. Seems I'm doubly excited this year since Hometown Seeds has signed on to sponsor my garden. I've been studying what I want to do this year-changes I want to make, new things I want to try, and trying to remember the things that worked last summer.

Some of you may remember, last year, we put a load of chicken litter on the garden-and for the first time in many years I started most of the plants we usually buy-from seeds.

The litter-greatly improved the gardens-I think I had a bumper crop of most everything. The seeds-were only a partial success. I enjoyed making the newspaper cups-and all of the seeds sprouted and grew-but only the green peppers made it too produce in the garden. I was still getting green peppers when the final killing frost came last fall-but not one of my tomatoes started from seed made it. 

I knew going into my seed growing enterprise I'd be fighting one main problem-light. I live on the North side of the mountain where there isn't enough natural light shinning through my windows-and I don't have any grow lights. This year-I'm starting my seeds just like I did last year-but with a little more hope-since after they sprout-they'll be traveling just a few miles down the road to finish growing in a green house.

 

During these cold snowy winter months, I've tried to read up on some gardening subjects that I want to incorporate in my garden this coming summer.

1. It's no secret I'm fascinated with the theory of planting by the signs. This year-I've made an easy to read calendar of the right planting days-and I'm determined to plant my entire garden by the signs.
2. I realized last year-I don't really know the difference between all the seed types-hybrid, heirloom, organic, open pollinated, etc. I asked Dean, a farmer I truly respect, to explain it all to me in simple terms-he did better than that he wrote me an article. I'll be sharing it with you in the coming days.
3. Last year, WKF told me I should check out companion planting. I got the book she suggested and after reading it-I want to try planting veggies that like each other together and see if it makes a difference.

What about you-got any new plans for the garden-or maybe you tried out something new that worked great last summer? I'd love to hear about it-leave me a comment.

Tipper

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Write Me Sweetheart

Both Bluegrass and Country songs are sometimes said to be synonymous with heartache and sadness. There's even been songs written about the lonesome phenomenon related to both genres. In the country realm-David Allen Coe's You Don't Even Call Me By My Name comes to mind. 

Mandolin Man teases Paul about the songs he writes-saying "ever last one of them is sad and depressing". One time Paul thought he'd take a cue from David Allen Cole and write the most depressing song he could come up with-he came up with In The Lonesome Woods Tonight which turned out to be one of my all time favorite songs.

For this week's Pickin' & Ginnin' In The Kitchen Spot-I've got a toe tapping song for you. It's an old Roy Acuff song-Write Me Sweetheart. I guess you could say it goes against the grain of the typical sad and lonesome bluegrass tune. The words surely talk about a broken heart-but I don't know how anyone could listen to Paul and Pap's version and be sad. See what you think. (don't forget to stop the player in the top right hand of this page before you start the video)

Did you tap your toes? I did-outstanding flat top picking and tight harmonies-you can't beat that.

If you'd like to hear more of Paul and Pap's music-and you live close enough-they'll be playing at the John C. Campbell Folk School on Friday night (March 5th). The concert starts at 7:30-and the whole Blind Pig Gang will be performing.

I was thrilled when we were asked to play for the Friday Night Concert Series-and I was even more excited when I was asked to write about it for the Folk School Blog. I'd be pleased if you jumped over to read about my history with the John C. Campbell Folk School.

Tipper

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Spreading February's Love

 

On another snowy day in the mountains of NC, it's time to spread the love for February.

Each of you who commented in February made the Blind Pig a better place to visit-and those of you who commented on the essays-helped encourage some young Appalachian Writers too keep writing. I thank each of you:

Sandy Carlson, Janet, Mary's Writing Nook, Paula, Kathleen, Just Jackie, The Texican, Julie at Elisharose, Miss Cindy, Brenda Kay Ledford, Sheila B., Osagebluff Quilter, Terry, Matthew Burns, GrannyPam, Warren, Lanny, The Fishing Guy, Mary Traveling Hammer, Petra Michelle, SolsticeDreamer, David Templeton, Farmchick Paula, Nancy M., Glenda, Nancy Simpson, Fencepost, Rick's Whitetail Woods, Trisha Too, Mary Life In A Cordwood Cabin, My Carolina Kitchen, Farmchick, Emily Cole, Paul Saltcreek, Patty Hall, JoLyn, Olecrowsnest, The Welldigger, Rachel, Stacey, B. Ruth, CheE, Sallie Covolo, Barbara Gantt, Vicki Lane, Mary Libby, Frances, Jay Henderson, wkf, Michelle, Susie, Ethel, Julie Curtis, Janet Pressley, Eva Nell Mull Wike, Ph.D., Sarah, Wanda, Benny Terry, Two Square Meals, Rooney Floyd, Apple, Stacey South Western PA, Elizabeth, Dee from Tennessee, Lynn, Elizabeth Thomas,  Sue, Vera, Steve A in Florence Ky, Pat in East TN, Charles Fletcher, Shirley, Daniela, doggybloggy, Teresa  Clint, Kay B., Helen G., Jen, Kay Keen, Elliott Queen, Sandra, April, Doug, December & Josey, Jamie Keener, Faye Marshall, Bruce, Crazy, Betsy from Tenn, Trixie Goforth, Crystal, Heather Rojo, Jonathan, Apple, Betty Blankenship, Greta Koel, Ms. Christy Horne, Henrietta Newman, Felted Kiwi, JennyJenny, Susan Rentze, Donna W, Chrisq, JoyceAnn, Ruth, GAFarmWomanPam, Haystack Jackson, RazorFamilyFarms.com, Granny Sue, Egghead, Threecollie, M. Diane Rogers, Teresa Maggie Grace Creates, Abbey Jenkins, Jennifer in OR, Georgie, Richard Beauchamp, Audrey, Marion, Nicolezmomma, Stove Pipe, Barbara Taylor, Mickey McKee, Rick M, Baking Barb, Sandra Spencer, Gwen Mangelson, Brenda S 'Okie in Colorado', and Jenny.

 

Even though it's snowing outside my window, my mind is on: spring, seeds, seedlings, greenhouses, warm dirt, fresh veggies, pretty flowers, mushrooms, sign tests-I guess you get the picture I'm dreaming of this summer's garden. In the spirit of my thoughts-this month's Spread the Love prize is a scrap-booked garden journal-made by me. (to be entered in the monthly giveaway all you have to do is a leave a comment during that month)

The winner is...Rick from Whitetail Woods.

Actually Rick isn't the only winner-since I'm dreaming of the beauty above-I've picked 3 additional names this month-I'll send each person a few flower seeds from the ones I saved last fall. Who are the 3... Jen, Stacey Southwestern Pa, and Marion. (send your addresses to tipper@blindpigandtheacorn.com)

I hope all of you continue to visit the Blind Pig & The Acorn-and don't forget click on a commenters name above and go for a visit, I know you'll be glad you did.

Tipper

p.s. There is still room in the 2nd Annual Blind Pig & the Acorn Planting by the Signs Test-if you're interested in playing along-email me at tipper@blindpigandtheacorn.com

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Ghost At Hazel Creek

Today's post concludes a series of essays about people who were displaced by the building of Fontana Dam, all written by 8th graders at The Learning Center!.

Ghost At Hazel Creek

Written by Chitter Pressley

It was a pretty day and I was already planning to get out and do something. First I had to go get my dry cleaning. It was only four blocks away so I got creative and dangerous and rode my bicycle to get it. I was riding along when I saw this cute little dog. It stopped in front of my bicycle and barked really loudly but I don’t know why. I went to the Dry Wash Inn and got my clothes. The lady behind the counter looked familiar. I then realized who she was I said "hey your Pamela Branch the channel one weather reporter". I asked what happened she said she lost her job and had to work here. She didn’t want anyone to recognize her and she had to find work. I took my clothes, got on the bicycle, and pedaled away. In the same spot, on the way back that the dog stopped and barked, I saw a big capital J in red. I didn’t think much of it. I thought it was just some kind of graffiti and I went on with my day.

So my friend told me about a place called Hazel Creek. It sounded like a great place to go and visit on a cool fall day. I went to the internet to get more information. So that was it, I was going to Hazel Creek by myself on this fall day. No one else could go, they had to work or were busy. I made the drive to Hazel Creek a little over an hour and was finally there.

 I walked into the place and told them I was here to get on a boat to go over to the displaced community. They got some other people and me right on the boat and headed that way. The lake was beautiful, the leaves were gently laid on the water's surface and they were falling off the trees everywhere. We even saw a big black bear on the way over to the displaced community. We road over to where you got off to hike and said good bye to civilization. The man said he would pick us up around one thirty. I walked a way down the trail slowly and saw some other hikers. The other people who had been on the boat with me had already passed me up. I came to a big, long bridge and had a great view of the fast moving water below.

 I was half way across the bridge when I heard what sounded like someone behind me. I turned around ready to say "hey" or "how are you" but no one was there. I kept walking and I heard it again. That time I was sure there was another person there besides me, though I couldn’t see them. I had that feeling of being watched and I didn’t like the feeling at all. The sound of crinkling leaves got louder and faster. Then and there I saw it, a fast moving object was running through the woods right in front of me. The object more than scared me and gave me cold unfriendly chills up my spine. The thought of "what if this is it" came to my mind. That's when I felt it a hand on my back.

I whipped around and saw the object. This object was a young man in what looked like a service uniform from the era of the Civil War. I asked what was going on and if he was a ghost. He responded, "Yes, I am. I was killed in a tragic train accident. The train hit me and broke me in two. Now I am here to show you this place and terrify the little munchkins on Halloween." He continued, "But seriously, I am the afterlife of Jacob Fonslow Hall. I served in the Confederate State's Army in the Civil War."

 He then led me to the house that lay ahead. We walked down an old road, stopped, and proceeded to go in the house. He told me what the house used to look like inside, that it had beautiful fire places and nice, soft couches, with lovely, nice dishes in the cabinets. "Basically, nothing like it is now," I said.

He replied in a serious voice, "Yes."

 "Would you like to show me the rest?" I asked and he agreed.

 We walked up an old road that winded in and out. We finally cut up a trail and came to a cemetery. We walked over to a head stone and he said, "This is my grave, that section over there has some of my family in it. So does that one,” he pointed.

 He told me stories of what his family was like; the time his sister got in trouble for climbing a cherry tree because she didn't want a whipping. He told me that his dad was a great man and worked in the saw mill, while his mom kept the house and cooked some good food. He also shared that his dad would take him hunting in the woods sometimes all day. All the stories were great and we soon left the cemetery.

On the way back down, he showed me a chimney that was left from a house where he and his family lived. While he was talking, he looked happy because he was remembering all the good times they had. I was very glad because when I first ran into him he looked sad and very serious. "The place was nice, close to the river for water, and in the dry seasons, slow enough to swim in it. All was great at that time," he said.

We went back by the house and out the road. We came to the remains of a sawmill after what seemed like a very long walk in silence. He told me his father used to work there and showed me the remains of a cellar, but said he didn't remember much about it. We went back down the hill and into the remains of the saw mill. He showed me what he could remember of where every thing was located. "Since I was little," said the ghost again, "I don't remember much about it but more than the cellar. I remember that there was always a stack of logs here. My dad worked on the saw that was always standing here. He sent the boards through and cut them. One of my dad's friends, Bobby Joe Ford, worked on checking the machines and fixing them if they broke down."

On the way back from the saw mill, he showed me the old pieces of what used to be the little trans cart. The cart rode on the tracks. He told me after he got back from the war, he worked on the little cart. He made sure the tracks were okay, not gone or rusted.

While we walked around, I saw a lot of leaves on the ground in all sorts of colors. Red, brown, yellow, and even a peach color. It was all so pretty, I felt terrible that all these people just had to load up and move away from their homes; where they had lived all along.

We went back to get on the boat and rode back to civilization. Everyone looked very tired or sleepy. I wasn’t all that tired, actually just surprised at what I had seen. When we got back to shore, I got in my car after going to the restroom and made the drive home. When I got home, the big, red "J" wasn’t there any more. I couldn’t think of anything else but Jacob Fonslow Hall, the transparent man, I had seen that day. What he had told me and all the things I experienced at Hazel Creek will remain in my memory forever.

written by Chitter Pressley

Hope you enjoyed Chitter's essay, leave her a comment and I'll make sure she reads it.

I like to send a big THANK YOU out to each of you who took the time  to comment throughout this series of essays-each comment has made a huge impression on these young Appalachian Writers.

Tipper

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