Life Appalachia
These are our stories. This is our life Appalachia.
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For months I've been patiently watching yellowish, mottle-skinned fruits swell. Young golden delicious apples bobbing tenuously in the breeze, testing the strength of my sapling's little bowing branches.
The tree, a couple years old now, has survived a transplant from a home I briefly owned and a near girdling winter attack of a winter starved, bark chew[...]
Friends And Family
The folks chasing dreams in the New River Gorge.
Farm To Table
Grow it. Hunt it. Can It. Cook It.
Y'all Come See Us!
Galleries, adventures and resources to visit. We're saving you a chair.
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Tania and I craned our necks over the dashboard of my pickup that I'd pulled over on the shoulder of a 2 way, 1 car width gravel road, and tried to figure out if we were on a driveway, a county road... or a dry creek bed. It was the start of a fairly typical Sunday adventure in the New River Gorge region of Southern West Virginia. We were on the trail of the[...]
Life Outside
It's more than adventure sports, it's a way of life.
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"If you trust me enough to take you fishing... I trust you enough to show up." With that honest statement my friend, Bobby Bower, put another guided fishing trip on the books. (His future guest asked Bobby if he owed him a deposit for the booked trip.)
It was a cool Sunday morning in early June and we were sitting out on his side porch sippin' on coffee a[...]
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Much like the old coal company or hardware stores of our region's past, the shops in the New River Gorge often serve a purpose beyond retail. The clear cut business side, well.... it's selling people stuff... but they are also cultural hubs that inspire discourse, build community and strengthen relationships. You can find this in many small towns but it seem[...]
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Every nook and cranny at the pull off has a pickup, Subaru or other flavor of roof racked vehicle wedged into it. Just like any beach, anywhere, you can tell the surf is in. Except we're in West Virginia... yep, that's the landlocked state to the west of Virginia.
Ok. Let's review that last sentence briefly.... West Virginia is a sovereign state. It is N[...]
What’s this all about?
Life Appalachia is the story of a choice. Many choices. The stories of the folks who chose everyday, against all odds, to live in the New River Gorge Region of Southern West Virginia and build sustainable communities. Some of us where born here. Some of us moved here. We work in the mines and on the rivers. We build guitars and wait tables. We sell bikes and design websites. We teach school and grow food. Some go to church, some to nature and some both.
And each of us has made the decision to live a Life Appalachia.
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