Living By The Seasons

I’m not ready, but it’s happening.
I’m starting to get emails hawking sweaters and fall outfits.
I’m seeing back-to-school items for sale.
Any day now, the pumpkin spice onslaught will begin.
And I’m not ready!

In the world of marketing, everything is always several weeks ahead of where we actually are in real life. But I can’t help but think of the way my grandmothers lived when I see advertisers rushing to sell the holiday or event coming up in a few months. 

My grannies also lived by the seasons, and they also had to plan ahead. However, it was not based on what they would buy, but on what they could harvest, save, store, and preserve. This time of year was always a flurry of work! Even now I associate back-to-school time with having sore hands from breaking so many beans and peeling and cutting up so many apples.

Some of our seasonal activities in Eastern Kentucky included:

-Picking blackberries (up on the old strip mine site) and making pints and pints of jam

-Picking and peeling apples for drying and for apple butter

-Picking and canning green beans, and also stringing them up with needle and thread to dry for shuck beans

-Cutting up kraut for sauerkraut and cutting up corn to make pickled corn (using a cream can on the surface of the old formica table)

-Cutting the sorghum and stirring it off to make molasses (although in all fairness, in this activity the men did much of the labor)

I don’t do ALL of these things anymore, but I do try and do at least a couple of them each year. We’re taking a break from sorghum this season because my father-in-love is having some knee issues. And I don’t see myself making kraut. But I DO see some apple butter and dried apples in my future! And we planted tons of fall beans (greasy beans!) which I can’t wait to can and dry to eat all winter. They truly are one of my favorite foods in the world, specially when accompanied by some homemade corn sticks!

So what’s coming up THIS fall?

And as a self-employed artist who must do some marketing to stay afloat, I must confess I’m starting to let folks know about the upcoming fall semester of my online Appalachian Flatfooting & Clogging Academy. In case you don’t know what it is, it’s a signature digital course I created during the shutdowns. It gives you ALLLL the resources, instruction, and tools you need to learn the amazing percussive dance styles of Appalachia.

It lasts for two months, and you receive a new module each week along with live classes and coaching sessions with me. Because I do give so much personal attention to my students, I only plan to open it twice each year. If you think you might be interested, head over here to learn more and get on the wait list.

If you want to give the dancing a try, or get a head start on what I’ll be teaching in the Academy, be sure to grab my free dance video “3 Essential Steps for Appalachian Flatfooting & Clogging” You can find it in my Mountain Mama Digital Care Package. And while you’re there, you can get some free songs, videos, and also snag my Grandmother’s cornbread recipe. If you can’t get enough dance, please join in me in my free Appalachian Flatfooting & Clogging Facebook Group!