by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Mar 31, 2016 | Appalachian, Family, folklore cures, Food, Nature
Flowers are blooming, afternoons are warm, the sun moves more slowly across the sky . . . It’s the time of year when the old folks start shunning preserved foods for something fresh. Something green. Poke sallat. Fiddleheads. And ramps, which are somehow getting to be...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Mar 10, 2016 | Appalachian, Family, Memories, Nature
I don’t suppose the childish instinct to build playhouses is unique to Appalachia. But maybe our materials are. When we were kids with the run of a 100-acre farm, we had quite a few castles, forts, and playhouses. There was just something about building our OWN...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Feb 4, 2016 | Appalachian, Nature, Poetry
While folks living further to the north have no illusions about winter being over and folks further to the south rarely get the full-on winter experience, we here in the middle–the Appalachians–are suffering that in-between season. We just had a major hit...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Nov 12, 2015 | Appalachian, Family, Food, Friends, Nature
It’s almost holiday time in West Virginia. Oh, sure, there’s Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the REAL festivities begin on the Monday before Thanksgiving. The first day of deer season. Many schools are out all week because, well, no one would come if they were open....
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Oct 22, 2015 | Appalachian, dogs, Love, Nature
I recently turned in the latest round of edits on my third novel–A Tapestry of Secrets–due out in August 2016. The book has gone through several drafts, one of which included a stray dog. In the end, he didn’t fit the story, so he got cut. But I kind...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Oct 8, 2015 | Appalachian, dogs, Nature
It’s October–my favorite month. I realize the first day of fall was back in September, but October is when I KNOW the seasons are changing in these Appalachian mountains. Leaves are just starting to color, the mornings require a jacket, and the sky is getting...
