SIMPLICITY -A NEW BOOK CELEBRATING LIFE IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS

If like me, you have an abiding interest in all things Appalachian, then SIMPLICITY by Blanche L. Ledford and  Brenda Kay Ledford is a book you will want to buy, read, and keep near on your book shelf.

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER CO-AUTHOR BOOK

            Award-winning writers, Blanche L. Ledford and Brenda Kay Ledford, have collaborated a collection of prose and poetry about the culture of Clay County, North Carolina.

            This book coincides with the sesquicentennial celebration of Clay County in 2011. The county was established in 186l.

            At 89, Blanche writes with knowledge about growing up in Clay County during the Great Depression. She recalls planting her vegetable garden by the signs, and wearing sinful red shoes to a mountain church. Her stories about the Blue Ridge Mountains will bring back memories of by-gone days.

            Her daughter, Brenda Kay, is a member of North Carolina Storytelling Guild.  She’s won awards telling stories at the annual Lies & Pies Jamboree held on the square in Hayesville, NC. She’s told stories at the John C. Campbell Folk School, at festivals and when she gives poetry readings throughout the Southeast.

            Brenda writes about her experiences as a native of Clay County. She’s received the Paul Green Award from NC Society of Historians for her poetry chapbooks:  Patchwork Memories, Shew Bird Mountain, and Sacred Fire. She also won the award for collecting oral history on Velma Beam Moore, a prominent citizen of Clay County.

            This book, Simplicity, describes the culture of Clay County, NC honestly and with humor.  It brings the reader back to a slower-paced period, when folks sat on the front porch swapping tales with neighbors, and savored the good sense of a simple lifestyle.

         

                                                        Brenda Kay Ledford and Blanche L. Ledford

Where I’m From

by Blanche L. Ledford

I am from home-canned jellies,

from Ball jars and Blair food coloring.

I am from a log cabin

tucked away in the Trout Cove.

I am from black-eyed Susans

pulsing in the fields.

I’m from pumpkins and squash

piled in orange and yellow heaps.

I’m from mountain dulcimers,

Granddaddy Shook sawing the fiddle,

clogging in the old red barn.

I’m from moss-covered rocks,

wading Little Brasstown Creek.

I’m from Shady Grove Baptist Church,

Richard Powers leading shape-note songs,

and Daddy planting crops by signs.

I am from the Blue Ridge Mountains,

water-bath canning, jars

of peaches and garden produce

sparkling like jewels in the pantry.

  Simplicity is available at Phillips & Lloyd Book Shop, Hayesville, NC; The Book Nook, Blairsville, GA; The Cherokee County Museum, Murphy, NC, or online:  
http://catawbapublishing.com/bookstore/book/179 for $16.00 per copy.


More info about The Blue Ridge Poet
http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com/