appalachianfolkways

“When a woman is gone, even if the quilt remains anonymous, we know someone was there.  A quilt is the last aspect of her life to survive.  So many times when a woman is decreased, her pots and pans are given away, her furniture is given away, maybe there is a piece of jewelry that stays within the family, but invariably, if she was a quiltmaker, a quilt is still there to say I was here… ”   This is a quote from The Alliance for American Quilts.

The Alliance for American Quilts helps to preserve the history of quilts and their associated owners. Each quilt has a personality all of its own. It tells stories. It illuminates our history. It links our generations together. I know I personally feel a connection to my grandmother when I’m able to cuddle up with a quilt she made. I look at her handmade stitches and try to analyze them. Without a sewing machine, her stitches were required to be tiny and small, yet strong enough to hold together the design and layers of fabric  for decades. Some stitches are perfect and others are squiggly. Were her hands cold and rigid because the fire was going out that evening.  Or was she sitting on the summer porch in early morning listening to the birds chirp as she stitched away. Was my mother, as a child, standing there watching my grandmother, laughing and chatting while she was trying to quilt? Fortunately, we don’t have to make a quilt in order to have one today. We can run to the store and have a wonderful selection to choose from.  But as I become further entrenched in my green living, traditions, and family values, I have decided I want to leave a legacy quilt. Just like my grandmother’s quilt, it doesn’t have to be perfect.  Our families that inherit our quilts will cherish the imperfections and love to have it as a part of us. So as I begin my quilt, I encourage you to consider one too and carry on a wonderful American tradition.  If you don’t want to invest the time or feel you don’t have the skill to accomplish a quilt, you should consider supporting  The Alliance for American Quilts (AAQ).  You can make a donation or become a member for $25 or more. The proceeds go toward this non-profit organization whose mission is to document, preserve, and share our American quilt heritage and quilt stories. And by the way, if you’re still fortunate enough to have a mother around to ask questions, maybe there’s a quilt hiding in your family closet. Now’s the time to ask so you know your family’s quilt story.

Visit www.allianceforamericanquilts.org

I had a very dear friend send me a song by the Zac Brown Band.  I love it!  Not only is it a fun song but it reminds me of my grandmother.  I remember grabbing the tin can on the shelf in the back of the old wood cooking stove filled to the brim with broken egg shells.  We would break the dried shells into smaller pieces and feed them back to the chickens.  Grandma would save this chore for me when she knew I would be visiting.  As a child, it made me feel so special.  She use to say she didn’t mind fixing dinner but she just didn’t know what to fix.  There wasn’t a grocery store within miles, or at least one that was affordable.   Her family tradition was to go out in the yard and kill a chicken for the afternoon Sunday meal.  Of course, killing a chicken is quite a chore compared to dropping by the local grocery store now and buying a package of chicken breasts.  Why, you had to slaughter a chicken in all likelihood you had already given a proper name.  You then needed to boil it, pluck it and chop it.  Dinner was likely an all day chore.  There wasn’t a question about it being organic.  Fed corn and eggshells it was as organic as you could get.  It was also not convenient.   I can see why she hesitated so!   Somehow she whipped up a delicious meal with fried chicken, real mashed potatoes and chicken gravy.  The ice tea would be placed in the spring in an aluminum pitcher to make it chilled.  My cousins and I would crawl behind the table and squeeze together on the bench while the parents would sit properly in their chairs.  We were glad to be sitting so close, as we poked and prodded each other, giggling and laughing.  Grandma seemed to have the patience of a Saint and didn’t care.  I can’t say so much about our parents!   It made wonderful memories….after all, that’s what life is made of….   And my favorite meal in the whole wide world that I request on my birthday?  You guessed it, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy!  Thanks Grandma and Mom!

As Zac Brown Band sings it…..

Sic’em on a chicken and watch them feathers fly….

Bring out the butter and flour ready to fly.

I can smell the kitchen and it’s almost supper time…..

Dedicated to my good friend Scott!

So often we believe that what we have right now isn’t as good as it’s going to be.  We want good fortune in the future.  We wish to re-live memories of the past.  We wish for our spouse or significant other to change and be something different instead of curling up beside of them and being happy now.  All that we really have is today. Right now.  It’s important to be in the present moment and enjoy what “is”.   Unfortunately, it seems it is just part of human nature, the way we are programmed, to want something else, to be something more, to have something different.  I try humbly to follow my own advice and appreciate all the goodness surrounding me.   I have to laugh when I see the picture  I took of the sheep.  He has a wonderful farmer providing him with bales of hay.  Yet, with a barn yard full, he still has to jam his head through the fence, legs bent beneath him to stretch for the greener grass.  So it appears we’re not the only creatures that believe the grass always looks greener on the other side!!  So dear Appalachian friends, please take a few moments today to enjoy the treasure of green pastures surrounding you, babbling brooks, the wonderful blue hue of the Blue Ridge mountains and those special loved ones in your life.  It isn’t always greener on the other side….

Reaching for greener pastures

The wind riz

And then it blew,

The rain friz

And then it snew.

Spring has sprung,

The grass has riz,

I wonder where

The flowers is.

Spring has sprung,

Fall has fell,

Winter’s here

And it’s cold as heck…..

With all the crazy weather we’ve been experiencing, it seems appropriate to post this crazy and fun poem.  We can’t begin to predicate the weather, particularly with the month of March upon us tomorrow.  As they say, in like a lion and out like a lamb.  So no matter the weather, enjoy it along with the abundance of the beautiful mountains and earth outside your door.

A knock would come on the door…. you’d open it… and then you would say to your visitor, “did you come after a chunk of fire?”   It was a friendly, neighborly way of saying hello when you answered the door.

Matches weren’t something you could always afford or were readily available.  So if your fire burnt too fast during the night there wouldn’t be enough embers to start it the next morning.  No fire meant no coffee.  No breakfast.  No warmth in the winter morning.  So you’d have to take your metal bucket, walk to your neighbor’s house (no matter how far the distance and the weather) to shovel embers from their fire into your bucket so you carry it home and start your own fire.

The type of wood you used would impact your fire.  So not only did you have to cut your own wood, stack it, and keep it dry, but you also needed to know the properties of the different types of wood to know how it would burn for the chores you needed to accomplish for the day.

Today, a flip of the switch provides us with heat, electricity, and air conditioning while a flip of the wrist provides us with water.  We should all enjoy our modern day conveniences, but let’s not forget they are a privilege and we need to consider conserving so it’s there for us and for many generations to follow.

Photo:  Picture of the Shenandoah River.  Photo by Dale Roberts.