Springtime Plantin'!

The tulips are budding, the daffodils are out, and the spring rains have settled in for - about the next two months. What better way to celebrate the end of a horrid, long cold February than with a trip to your local nursery? Here in Morgantown there are the usual places such as Lowe's, but I prefer and honest-to-goodness greenhouse nursery like Shield's Nursery near Clay Battelle & Core, WV. It's right on the WV/PA line, and I'm still not sure which state it's in.

Every spring (and honestly, throughout the summer), I find myself being drawn there - not only for the great deals on plants, but because of the atmosphere. The simplistic decoration, the use of recycled materials, and the laid-back appearance of the place gives me a feeling of peace and contentment that I hope to be able to build in my own yard. There's also an overwhelming sense of abundance, as if you could walk around the place all day long and not see everything there. It's a Disneyland for gardeners and plant lovers!

Here are some of my favorite shots from the greenhouse. I was concerned at first about taking photos, but the owner of the place laughed at me with her thick Romanian accent and says, "Take all the pictures you want. I don't know why though - there is nothing here to take photos of." I sensed that somewhere beneath that sentence there was thick sarcasm. Judge for yourself:
An aged lion spouts water beneath a trellis on top of a pedestal of railroad ties. Note the baskets of flowers hanging from the trellis. Very nice!

This is the entrance to one of the eight or so greenhouses. No surface is devoid of plant life - sometimes not even the walking path!

This old tree stump was inside the one greenhouse, planted with moss and succulents, and surrounded by annuals. Beautiful! I think some of the success of this nursery is their ability to make everything look like it "just happened" that way.

This gazebo is right in the middle of one of the greenhouses - little respites like this are everywhere. And in case you're wondering, that's juniper growing across the arch in the background!

See? Of course, these are not all the common, garden-variety WV plants. There are some exotic things here, too.
Such as this papyrus - anyone feel like making paper like the ancient Egyptians? And speak of exotic, the grounds of the nursery is also home to 6 or so of these:

I have to say, I love peacocks. They're beautiful birds, and I love their call. I kept waiting for the one above to spread out his tail, but he only did it once when my digital camera was OFF, of course. I will make another trip soon to see if I can get a better picture of his tail feathers.

There was also a large flock of peahens around the greenhouses. They really are beautiful birds!

Yet I digress - here are more photos of the nursery:

Thinking of creating a water garden? You can get your plants here:

Complete with tadpoles:

Of course, there are also the shade plants and the wine shoppe, which sells local wines, crafts, and pottery:

Here are some shots from inside the wine shoppe and craft store:

And now, back out to the nursery - these are some really neat shots I found around the place. Amazingly, there are a lot of customers all the time, but it is so big and full of vignettes that it feels intimate - like you have the whole place to yourself.

Wisteria over the doorway - very romantic.

Can you grown oranges in your garden? This was simply amazing!

Here are some more shots to get you in the mood for spring -

A bright red azalea! And below, some flowers I cannot identify. Any ideas?

Well, the peacock says it's time to go. Until next time, keep thoughts of spring on your mind - because if you aren't careful winter might come back!

WV Storytelling Institute

I know, I know - write about the kitchen. I promise - but I wanted to get out information about the latest storytelling event (arguably the largest) in West Virginia. A lot of my fellow tellers will be there, and West Virginia's Spectral Heritage will have our display there as well!

The West Virginia Storytelling Institute will take place on April 3-4, 2009. This is a Friday and Saturday, and is the second time this event has taken place at Fairmont State University.

This is the Falcon Center, the student union at Fairmont State University. It's a new building, and impressive. The university is hosting the second annual WV Storytelling Institute here. There will be storytelling, sessions on how to storytell various styles, and music! Lots of storytellers use music in their storytelling (something I've yet to do). One of my favorite balladeers, Susanna "Granny Sue" Holstein, will be there again this year. Here she is presenting a workshop on ballads last year:

Of course, my favorite things about the storytelling institute are getting to see a lot of my friends that I normally only see once in a great while - and some that I last saw at the institute! Sad, I know, but thankfully a few of us have discovered Facebook, which helps us keep in touch better. Still, face-to-face is much more preferable. Here are Jo Ann Dadisman (of the Mountain Echoes), Granny Sue, and Ilene Evans. All are primo, excellent, one-of-a-kind storytellers!

Here are some other photos:

Here Ilene is in costume, when she portrays Harriet Tubman (and does a great job with it!). I'm not sure what made us laugh, but with us it could have been anything.

And who says no one is interested in Appalachian culture? It seems to me that we drew one heck of a crowd! Of course, with a great book such as this one, how could we not?

This book is our latest guild publication, titled From Our Mountains: A Collection of Stories from the West Virginia Storytelling Guild. It's a great read! And it puts its best foot forward - after all, my story is the first one! (I'm not saying anything about the stories being in order by author's last name). This book is still in print, and still for sale through any storyteller. You can get yours by contacting me, or any other storyteller from the WV Storytelling Guild.

The schedule starts on Friday, the 3rd of April starts at 9am and runs through 9pm (or later). Saturday is much the same, with various tellers, events, and presentations throughout the days. You can find more information on the guild site, as well.

While you're at Fairmont State University, you may want to check out the Dr. Ruth Ann Musick library.

If the name sounds familiar, Dr. Musick was the lady who collected WV's ghost stories long before I was born, and is my inspiration for the WV Spectral Heritage Project. Her works include: The Telltale Lilac Bush, Coffin Hollow, and The Green Hills of Magic. Here are some photos from the inside of the library:

There is a large tile mural in the library depicting various scenes from Dr. Musick's books. This particular scene is of the coffin rider ghosts, a common theme in WV ghost stories.

This scene is from The Telltale Lilac Bush - a story about a husband who murdered his wife and buried her in the yard, but the lilac bush gives up his secret. I recommend these tales to anyone who loves a good ghost story!

This is several scenes of the tile mural, but the one in the middle depicts the "ghost light" spirit of a man killed by a train while walking the tracks at night. His ghost still lights his way on the tracks where he died.

If you want to know more about WV ghosts, read Dr. Musick's books, or go the West Virginia Spectral Heritage Project. I will work on getting the kitchen posted on here, but until then I hope you can forgive me and my spring fever!

Not My Fight? I Don't Think So...

Well Susanna, I am working on getting that post together about my kitchen. I will warn y'all firstoff - it is not a pretty room. Functional, but not pretty. That post is a'comin' either later this evening or tomorrow, whenever life settles down enough. Last evening I went shopping for things I could not put off buying until later, and by the time I got home I was too pooped to type.

Today I thought I'd update everyone on my most recent endeavor. My sister-in-law, Shirley, wrote a book called Bringing Down the Mountains, and is now working on her second endeavor - this time with the Sierra Club- on a book about mountain top removal. If you don't know about this current disaster state in West Virginia and most of Appalachia, then I suggest you educate yourself. Here you can get a good idea of what happens when a mountaintop is removed.

A Mountain top removal site - very moonscapish, eh? This was once verdant, green mountains!

For this second project, Shirl asked me to either draw her a picture or write a short piece for the book, and I came up with the idea for a poem. Since no one in my family (excepting those in Shirley's) have ever been employed by coal companies, it took me a while to find an angle from which to come at the subject. I knew what I wanted to say, but I did not want to come off sounding like an outsider talking about what I did not understand. This is something I constantly rail against myself - the last thing Appalachian culture needs is more local color writers!

I think I came up with a good poem, and I hope that it inspires others to not only realize the problems of mountain top removal, but also that we ALL have a part in it. Here is the poem I wrote for the book:

Not My Fight

I know nothing about coal mining,
Or the miner’s poor soul.
A coal company’s decisions don’t affect me
I’m told.—
There’s no coal to be mined
In the place where I dwell—
So I should ignore that
You’re turning heaven into hell.

Up here in Pendleton,
There’s no coal in sight—
No mines in these mountains
And green valleys so wide.
No tipples on the clifftops
Where the eagles fly high—
And you tell me there’s no part
For me in this fight.

On my family’s homeplace,
We’ve lived three hundred years.
All full of loving, laughter and tears—
Yet our sorrows are eclipsed
By the tragedies of coal,
Where fortunes in business
Are bought with the soul.

Words cannot render
The beauty I see
When I sit on my front porch
And look around me.
My mountains are safe now,
But how long will it be
Before some bought politician
Sells off my heritage?

My home in the mountains
Is worth more than gold.
There’s no advantage for me
To do as you’ve told.
There’s no way I’m buying
What you’re trying to sell—
I hope your profits will save you,
When you’re burning in Hell.

I hope you enjoyed that - and be sure to pick up a copy of Shirley's Bringing Down the Mountains. I will also let you all know when her next book comes out. Until then, I will keep everyone updated on my house renovation... next up - the kitchen!