Blind Pig & The Acorn

Appalachia Through My Eyes - A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

Spring is the time for graduations throughout Appalachia and beyond. In my county of Cherokee, I can think of 7 graduation ceremonies which occur every year-some folks would have you think nothing as inspiring and uplifting as graduations ever happen in Appalachia. I had the great fortune of attending a graduation last week.

Larry Kernea, a boy, actually a large man, raised just over the mountain in Moccasin Creek gave the welcoming address. Below is a quote from his speech that seemed especially meaningful to me.

You deserve for people to look at you as individuals. Your accomplishments are great. Tonight is a night to pause and celebrate and then continue on this magnificant journey that you've taken yourself on. I look forward to what you'll accomplish for each of us in this community. A rising tide lifts all boats and we're sending out 250 more people who are going to make these mountains a stronger better place to live and I look forward to sharing these mountains with you.

Larry's words seeped their way deep into my mind-deep into my heart-because within his words was me.

Me because I've earned the accomplishments he spoke of over the last 2 years; me because these mountains are my home and I too will share them with the accomplishments of my fellow students; me because Larry's father, Harold, walked these mountains with Pap when they were both boys-a friendship that lasted into adulthood until Harold went on; me because both Larry and I, like our fathers, have prospered here in the Appalachian mountains not in a monetary sense but in living a life that is worth living sense-another thing some people doubt ever happens in Appalachia.  

Appalachia = a rising tide that lifts all boats.

Tipper

p.s. In case you're wondering-I graduated with: an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Computer Information Systems and an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Internet Technologies. And boy am I glad the homework is over!

Appalachia Through My Eyes - A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.

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Appalachia Through My Eyes - Blackberry Winter

Today is May 13, 2013. In southern Appalachia the Blackberries are blooming and the temperature at my house is 33 degrees. I'm sure it's even lower in other parts of my county. It's still too dark out to see if we have frost-but I bet many areas of western NC do this morning.

*Blackberry Winter- a cold spell of weather which occurs each year when the Blackberry briars are in bloom.

Blackberry Winter is running slightly late this spring-just like everything else has. I just hope it doesn't do too much damage with it's late arrival. The Deer Hunter and I have been running late too-so the only thing we have up to worry about is my Blueberries. Granny and Pap spent yesterday evening covering up their tender plants with buckets and whatever else they could find.

How cold is it at your place?

Tipper 

Appalachia Through My Eyes - A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.

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Appalachia Through My Eyes - Mother's Day

Mother's Day in Appalachia is wearing red or pink flowers if your Mother is still among the living; it's wearing white if she's gone on to wait for you on the other shore. Mother's day in Appalachia is potted flowers and plants or maybe a new apple tree. It's small hands dipped in paint and pressed on construction paper. It's misspelled words full of love and cards that cost way too much. Mother's day in Appalachia is about gathering at Momma's-Granny's-Mamaw's-Nana's on Sunday afternoon for food love and thankfulness.

Happy Mother's Day to all Blind Pig readers who are Mothers, Grandmothers, or both!

Tipper

Appalachia Through My Eyes - A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.

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Appalachia Through My Eyes - May Waters

According to folklore I found in Frank C. Brown's Collection, if you wash your face in the dew on May 1st you will be pretty. Or if you let your head get wet in the first rain of May you will not have a headache all year long. 

Well I've missed out on the dew part-but I'm sure I'll be standing outside when the first rain drops arrive around my place this May. Trying for a whole year without a headache is worth getting a little wet-or a whole lot wet if it really worked.

Tipper

Appalachia Through My Eyes - A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.

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Appalachia Through My Eyes - All Leafed Out

Southern Appalachia has leafed out. The rain we had earlier this week coaxed the leaves to finish unfurling on most trees. I'm hoping the big frost we woke up to Friday morning didn't do too much damage to the plants that bear fruit.

Leafed out at your place? Is 'leafed out' even a phrase you're familiar with?

Tipper

Appalachia Through My Eyes - A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.

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Appalachia Through My Eyes - A Great Circle Of Dance

 

Last weekend, me and the girls made our annual trek to Berea, Kentucky to participate in Mountain Folk Festival. The weeks leading up to the festival were filled with learning the dances which had been chosen for this year's festival and anticipation for the trip.

While we were preparing for our trip, a three part blog written by Rooney Floyd was being shared on the John C. Campbell Folk School Blog. Rooney's story centers around replacing a star medallion that was original to the Oscar Cantrell Blacksmith Shop. I won't go deep into the details of Rooney's writings-but it's a fascinating story of history that happened right here in Brasstown at the folk school. (the links to all 3 parts are at the bottom of this post)

In the 3rd part of Rooney's article-Berea and the Mountain Folk Festival popped up when Rooney said this:

The Folk School Newsletter #16 dated December, 1933. In it, Marguerite had included a letter from the Berea staff thanking her and the School for bring the “singing games”, as she called folk dancing, to Berea. The letter stated, “The seed you have sown is bearing rich fruit. In some dances we have had 60-75 participants. I would say that Berea is thoroughly inoculated now.” Georg and Marguerite, with community and student dancers had been asked to come and help start a similar program to the Folk School’s at Berea. In 1933, this idea of the Folk School taking the dancing program to Berea was well known but has long since been lost to modern generations, especially since Berea’s Mountain Folk Festival, begun in 1936, celebrated its 75 anniversary in 2011. Bob Dalsemer will take the Brasstown contingent over to Berea next week, as he has for many years, for the 77^th festival.

I visualize this great circle of a well designed folk music and dance program at the Folk School going to Berea where it proliferated and many years later, drew Bob to his life work. Eventually he landed at the Folk School where he received the field’s highest award. To keep the momentum going, he returns Brasstown dancers to Berea each year as they have for over 80 years.

As you can see from the photo above-that great circle of dance between Brasstown and Berea is still going strong-and even better the circle has curved out in all directions. I never fail to get teary eyed when I sit on the sidelines in Seabury Gym and watch kids dance the traditional dances that have been danced all over Appalachia for generations. 

Tipper

p.s. I'll have a video from the festival to share with you in a few days. Please check out the links below to read Rooney's complete blog.

• Working Under The Star Part 1 
• Working Under The Star Part 2
• Working Under The Star Part 3

Appalachia Through My Eyes - A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.

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Appalachia Through My Eyes - Combed Your Hair Or Washed Your Face

Words of wisdom from Granny: You ought not ever leave the house without combing your hair or washing your face cause you never know who'll you'll run into.

Words of wisdom from Pap: Never go home with an empty gas tank cause you never know when something might happen in the night.

I manage to adhere to Granny's advice 99.9% of the time. Pap's advice-well I do a whole lot better than I used to at keeping an adequate amount of gas in my car at all times. But when it comes to passing Pap and Granny's advice on to the girls-I'm at 100%.

There's a hit country song laying in the bits of wisdom somewhere-you know something like "I never even combed my hair or washed my face but ran out of gas and had to climb in her van."

Tipper

Appalachia Through My Eyes - A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.

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My Life In Appalachia - Mountain Hoosiers

I was consulting my Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English for something when my eye fell upon the entry mountain hoosier-a term I have never heard.

According to the dictionary, Joseph Hall's earliest research showed people native to the mountains of NC and TN called themselves as well as their neighbors mountain hoosiers. The entry goes on to document the phrase was commonly used in Swain County NC, Cocke Co TN, Jefferson Co TN, Sevier Co TN, and even here in Brasstown. 

Even though I've never heard the term-I'd say the 2 girls in the photo fit the description perfectly.

How about you ever heard of a mountain hoosier?

Tipper

p.s. If you live close enough-come out to the 2nd Annual Martins Creek Jamboree. Listen to good music (I hear The Pressley Girls will be performing), eat some good food, and pick up some bargains-all to help the community center raise money for much needed electrical work on the building. Saturday April 6 -starts at 8am. (Martins Creek Community Center, 4605 Martins Creek Road, Murphy, NC 28906)

 

Appalachia Through My Eyes - A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.

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Appalachia Through My Eyes - Patch Farming

The Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English offers the following definition for patch farming:

1972 Graham County 50 With the first stages of early clearing, the farmer did "patch" farming near the cabin. Many farmers today still speak of a "patch" of corn or other crops. The farmer gradually and systematically extended the patches into wider fields by each year extending his farming into a new area known as a "new ground."

Back in the day when I first started gardening I read all sorts of books and magazines on the subject. I was fascinated by the articles which showed how much food could be produced in small raised beds. Typically the gardens profiled were in urban settings-where of course there is less square footage to go around for gardening purposes. 

In those days, we had even less flat land around our house than we do now-so I thought my narrow little bank tops would be perfect for raised beds. I remember telling Pap about what I had been reading and he got this smile on his face. I said "What?" He said "Why Tip people around here have been growing gardens like that since I was a boy, only nobody called them raised beds. But every wife would have her a little garden patch right close to the house where it'd be handy for her to tend it and for them to eat from it too." 

Then Pap showed me, you don't have to break the bank to build those little garden patches aka raised beds.

We found some 2-to 3 foot length tree branches The Deer Hunter had cut and thrown in the woods-we formed the sides from them. Pap showed me how to fill the bottom portion of the new patch with leaves-then dig a few buckets full of dark loamy soil from the edge of the woods to put on top. 

In the years since Pap first showed me how to form little garden patches-I've made them all over the yard-one here and one there-gradually increasing their size and building up the soil all at the same time.

I've used all sorts of logs, branches, and rocks to form the sides-basically anything I could find that was handy. And I've discovered: if you're able to fill the patch with 12 inches of good lose dark rich soil like the gardening books tell you to-GREAT. But if you're like me and you're really doing good to end up with 3 or 4 inches of so so soil-it still works better than trying to grow vegetables on top of hard packed dirt. And if you're short on gardening space-those little patches here and there and can boost your vegetable production in an amazing way.

Tipper

p.s. If you live close enough-come out to the 2nd Annual Martins Creek Jamboree. Listen to good music (I hear The Pressley Girls will be performing), eat some good food, and pick up some bargains-all to help the community center raise money for much needed electrical work on the building. Saturday April 6 -starts at 8am.

 

*Source Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English and Pap.

Appalachia Through My Eyes - A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.

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Appalachia Through My Eyes - Cold Spring

I believe all my talk of spring last week-made old man winter mad. This week he's decided to come back to western NC with a flurry of snow, wind, and freezing temps. 

I went back in the Blind Pig & The Acorn archives to see what I was doing this week last March. (you can see the details here) I had lettuce and spinach growing in the garden-and a greenhouse full of growing tomato plants.

This March-I have nothing in the greenhouse-not one thing! Weekend before last Chitter helped me plant some lettuce, radishes, and beets. But I haven't even checked to see if they've come up yet. I'm afraid all the consecutive nights of below freezing temperatures may have been to much for even the spring veggies.

On the bright side-hopefully the colder spring has kept the apple trees-blueberries-and grapes from budding out too soon and getting bit like they did last year. 

How about at your place-any gardening yet?

Tipper

p.s. Even though I'm worried about the garden-I am totally not complaing about the snow-I love it!

Appalachia Through My Eyes - A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.

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