Home & Garden

Live nativity scenes in Appalachia

Past and present views of living Christmas displays

There’s an old joke about a couple driving through Appalachia. They stopped in a quaint mountain town, with a central green plaza. In the green, the couple noticed a life-sized nativity scene. Along with the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the three kings and all the animals, the couple spotted a modern fireman.

Fallen leaves provide natural fertilizer for your lawn and gardens.

One day, they’re brightening the horizon with their brilliant yellow, orange and red hues. The next day, they are covering your lawn in a crunchy brown carpet. Perhaps that’s why it’s called the “fall.” By mid-November, the leaves are mostly all on the ground, leaving the landscape barren, sleeping until its spring revival.
Rustic furnishings to imaginative accessories Kentucky didn’t invent the log cabin, but the state may have perfected it. And it’s not due to millions of Kentuckians living in log cabins with no indoor plumbing well into the twentieth century like hillbillies lost in time. It’s because Kentuckians appreciate the simple things in life — and then enjoy crafting luxuries out of those simple things. The bourbon industry makes a fine analogy. What started as an outlaw venture making illicit liquor has become an international success story, as Kentucky bourbon is now a much-sought-after beverage. The same can be said of Kentucky cabin décor.
The Appalachian Mountains provide a home to one of the most diverse eco-systems in the world. There actually are more than 10,000 different animal and plant species residing here. Organisms such as fungi and salamanders are most diverse in Appalachia. Mosses represent another diverse species that thrive in the area. Moss is a small flowerless green plant that doesn’t have any roots. It grows in long, low carpets or rounded cushions in damp habitats found all throughout the Appalachian Mountain range. Moss reproduces by releasing spores from stalked capsules.

Early Appalachian settlers lived off the land, planting crops on mountainsides that were anything but flat. To ensure the family’s survival, though, folks in the mountains relied on agriculture. They knew that if you wanted to eat, you had to protect your garden. Since it took a lot of time and effort to build a garden fence, they often looked for other ways to keep hungry critters out.

Traditional Tactics
Fact: Herbs have been used for thousands of years for healing practices. Fact: The Appalachian Mountain region is one of the most botanically diverse areas in the country. Combine these facts with decades of hands-on practical teaching experience, and you have a perfect recipe for a successful school that teaches the value of herbs.
How to use composting to improve your garden Mountain settlers had to make due with what they had. They couldn’t ride into town every time they needed something for their homes or land. For one thing, they were subsistence farmers with very little money. For another, they lived off the land gratefully; it was the lifestyle of choice. People who gravitate to the mountains to farm the land generally enjoy solitude.
A stunning visual display on the run Rhododendrons bloom in the spring, but exactly when the best time to find them depends on the weather, temperature, elevation and soil conditions. In other words, the flowers rarely appear at the same time every year. This variability has given birth to the phrase “chasing the bloom,” in which flower enthusiasts and floral tourists track the flower as it first appears in different parts of the mountains.
Events and weddings and more, oh my! If you have to pull a big event together, but don’t know where to start, an event planner may be just the savior you need. If you feel overwhelmed at the prospect of planning a whole wedding, a wedding planner takes the weight of worry off your shoulders. And on the day of the event, you can relax and enjoy yourself knowing that someone is watching every detail.

For the right couples, this is the ultimate experience

Weddings today are family affairs. The bride’s family meets the groom’s family, with a few assorted friends of both sprinkled into the mix. They can be big or small, indoors or outdoors, catered or pot luck, but they always celebrate the joining of two people.

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