by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Apr 17, 2023 | Appalachian, Nature
I ADORE spring in Appalachia when the most amazing wildflowers put on a show. While there are certainly some showy flowers out there, the ones I like best are the sweet little flowers poking up through last autumn’s leaves. Hope for another year in shades of...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Mar 20, 2023 | Appalachian, folklore cures, Nature
It’s been a roller coaster leading up to the first few days of spring. We’ve had temperatures in the 70s and then . . . snow. Back and forth, spring has been a terrible tease this year. Of course, it’s not as bad as when folks had to wait for spring to eat anything...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Jan 9, 2023 | Appalachian, Food, Recipes
It’s January. In case you hadn’t noticed. At the grocery store these days, I can buy strawberries and asparagus. This (along with an occasional warm day) supports my delusion that spring is just around the corner. My great-grandmother had no such luxury. The turn of...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Oct 10, 2022 | Appalachian, Language, Nature, West Virginia
For the first 18 years of my life, I lived in a place where the driving directions included the phrase, “Turn off the paved road.” I love that so many places in Appalachia can be reached not by driving down highways or paying attention to street signs, but by...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Jul 4, 2022 | Appalachian, holidays, West Virginia
Happy Fourth of July from this red, white, and blue West Virginia writer to YOU! If you didn’t already know, my home state’s motto is: Mountaineers are always free. There’s a serious thread of independence running through the mountains I call home. And what...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Jun 6, 2022 | Appalachian, Family, Memories, Nature
A new deck is going up on our house as I write this. And I can hardly wait to sit out there in the cool of the evening. At our last house, my husband and I would often sit on the front porch steps, chatting lazily, watching Thistle poke around, and waving at passing...
