Founded in 2009, SEEED, or Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development, is an exceptionally designed non-profit with a mission to help young people find a way out of poverty. Their story is so unique because SEEED is an entirely local grown organization, cultivated from concerns about housing costs, high utility bills, and gun violence. These issues, paired with the fact that few real opportunities exist out there for youths to succeed and excel, prompted SEEED to start digging for a solution.Continue Reading

No one comes to the front door of the old clapboard house, unless of course they are peddling something, or lost. The gravel drive shoots up a short, steep hill and curves around to the back of the house like a strong arm pulls you in for a hug. LeftoverContinue Reading

Almost everybody in Appalachia has a home canning story. Whether it’s that jar of pickles that just didn’t keep its crunch, or the homemade apple butter with that heavenly taste, or the month canning went awry when several jars burst, and so forth. And I’d go even further to sayContinue Reading

Last fall, Appalachia Bare had the opportunity to conduct an on-site interview with Wayne Mason, the Compost Supervisor at Knoxville’s University of Tennessee (UTK) Compost Facility.1)Over the winter Wayne took a position with a city in the northeast to set up a municipal compost facility. What an eye-opening experience! WayneContinue Reading

Appalachia Bare recently had the great pleasure of meeting Bruce Guillaume, founder of Mountain Challenge and Fit.Green.Happy.®️, and we discovered a common interest in our deep love for the Appalachian Mountains and her people, in a commitment to environmental sustainability, and in the belief that outdoor ventures administer a prescriptionContinue Reading

The dream of Narrow Ridge started in the late 1960s and began to approach a reality in 1972 when founder Bill Nickle purchased 40 acres of steep mountain land in the Hogskin Valley area of Grainger County, Tennessee.  With roots in the philosophy of Martin Buber and others, Bill’s initialContinue Reading

Our hike continues on in humid air with welcome breezes when, all of a sudden, I sense someone running behind me before hearing a terrified scream. “Ah!” Katie yelps. “Oh my God, Casey! Help!” I’m in the lead of our pack, but, startled, I turn around to my wife. Katie’sContinue Reading

**Photo Source:  Library of Congress The history of the Southern Appalachian region is a saga of exploitation by profiteers inimical to the aims of ordinary people to provide for their families in safe conditions. The brutal treatment of coal miners and their families is well known and thoroughly documented. However,Continue Reading