Howdy from the Hills! My Steemit Introduction.

My life has been one with many detours and dead ends. I've climbed a lot of hills, literally and metaphorically. Now I'm here. I learned about Steemit by chance. A friend Hive account@pallmaul started sharing his posts on Facebook. I'm a sucker for a good pocket knife story so I checked it out.  I've been looking for something different and Steemit is definitely that. Another friend Hive account@tommyinthesun has been a huge help in the process of getting set up on here. While I was waiting for account authorization, he posted an article I had written to help give me a little boost.  The article was about the recent medical marijuana bill that was introduced in the Kentucky Legislature. I'll be posting an updated version soon. Tommy has been willing to answer all my questions and guide me through the process. I can't thank him enough.  Waiting for my authorization had me anxious, but the six days went by quicker than I figured it would. I've been fascinated by the concept of Steemit and am eager to get going. I hope this introduction post gives you an idea of who I am and what I am about. I have ideas for future posts that I think at least a few people will benefit from. 

Here I am: Farmer, Potter, Cook, Herbalist, and Father 

Me and a good friend butchered our first pig this day. We both put 50+ pounds of meat in the freezer.

This is where I'm from

  High Rock on Pine Mountain in Letcher County, Kentucky

28 miles slightly Northwest of this spot on the Cumberland Plateau you'll find the head of the Licking River and the southern tip of Magoffin County. I have moved a lot in my life, but one place in particular has had a strong impact on my life... 

Going up Cripple Creek, going in a run

This sign has been stolen so many times the Highway Department stopped replacing it. 

Of all the places I've lived this is the one that shaped me the most. My love for soil, clay, and the creek was born here. Days spent wading and swimming in the Big Deep Hole, climbing up to the High Rocks, and playing out back in the pines are still the most sentimental memories I have.  Cripple Creek has manage to avoid the intense development that most other places have seen and is one of the healthiest watersheds in the county. But I can't say that will last. 

Carrying on a farming heritage

This is my first Garden from way back in 2008. I helped my Maw when we lived on Cripple Creek, and I had raised some watermelons the year before, but this garden was .5 acre. Me and my dad hooked an old horse-drawn plow to a fourwheeler to turn the soil.  We had the worst drought I had ever seen that year, so I kept everything alive with horse manure tea I had brewed in the barn. It's been almost  10 years since then and I've gained quite a bit of experience. Spring is on the way and I have plans for my most ambitious venture yet. 

Wild edible and medicinal plants

A young Cucumber root  Medeola virginiana

After living on Cripple creek, I moved to place called Paddle Creek. I lived there all through high school.  I had a neighbor named Joe Russel who taught me how to find different plants that grew in the hills around my house, and how to use them as medicine. When he healed a deep cut in my foot using powdered goldenseal root, I went out and bought a Peterson Field Guide. I would study the guide for hours then hit the hills looking for the leaf patterns I had burned into my memory. I've used what I learned over the years to teach several workshops and to take groups of people on guided tours. Most of the workshops were taught at annual Growing Appalachia conferences, hosted by the Floyd County chapter of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. 

Ceramic work

Soda fired tea set

Back on Cripple creek, I found a vein of pure clay in a road cut that went to an old cemetery. I use to dig clay from there and sculpt heads from it. I would leave them to dry in the sun and they'd turn a chalky white. I knew that I wanted to work with clay someday and I got my chance while I was at Morehead State University. This tea set is from 2011. I have some more stuff from that year to share later. I've not had a studio space since 2015, but if everything goes right, I'll have a wheel by this summer. 

Here is a link to a short documentary I'm in that was produced by by the Appalachia Media Institute.  My segments are spaced throughout the video, but I'm far from the most interesting person featured. 

https://vimeo.com/46690768

From the holler to the streets

This is me at I Love Mountains Day on the steps of the Kentucky Statehouse in Frankfort. I gave a speech in front 1,200 people about why we need to end surface coal mining and about the potential that exists in the hills of East Kentucky. I got involved with environmental activism back in 2006 when I visited a mountaintop removal coal mine in Knott County KY, but I got my first experience as a child when my great aunt Toad helped form a group to stop a landfill from coming into Magoffin County. They won. I attended my first rally in 2003 at a May Day Marijuana March in Paducah.  I haven't been very active in the last couple years for a bunch of reasons, but I am scheduled to speak at the Appalachian Studies Association's annual conference this spring, and I was also a leading voice in a union effort at my former job as a cook with Aramark. 

Here is link to an article talking about the union effort:

https://www.nationofchange.org/2015/01/19/fast-food-workers-kentucky-stand-global-billion-dollar-corporation-union-vote/

And here is link to a video of my I Love Mountains Day speech :

https://vimeo.com/36857772

My family

I'll end this introduction with a picture of my wife, Lisa, and our two sons, Ezra and Penn. This is photo is a few months old, but it's a good one. I've been married for a little over four years now, and have been a stay at home dad for the last 7 months. Lisa teaches 4th and 5th grade Language Arts.  This a bittersweet picture for me.  Ezra had just recovered from  a severe case of diarrhea that had lasted almost a month and resulted in a hospital stay. The doctors were never able to figure out exactly what caused the infection, but were able to rule out any parasites. Watching my little boy waste away slowly over the weeks really put things in perspective. 

Wrapping it up

I have a  lot of ideas about different topics to discuss here. I plan on digging into my archives of drawings and writings, and sharing my experiences growing up in East Kentucky and how these hills have shaped who I am.  I have some big projects planned for this year the I hope you'll follow along with me.  I'm looking forward to meeting new people and working with you all to help this platform grow and reach the amazing potential it has. Thank's for taking a look.