Summary

This collection of over thirty pieces explores the connections between Appalachia’s stories, traditions, and modern events and the pathway to regional sustainability. The contributors—writers and scholars—consider what sustainability means in an Appalachian context and demonstrate how to utilize regional knowledge to achieve it, while offering specific actions for readers.

Contents

Land Acknowledgment

Preface – Jessica M. Jones

Acknowledgments

Introduction - Amanda E. Hayes

I. Roots and Brambles: The Nature of Appalachian Sustainability

1. Aunt Bett’s Beans - Ivy Brashear 
2. The Walker Sisters: Preservation, Human Spectacle, and Land Use in Southern Appalachia - Nicole Drewitz-Crockett
3. Camp Elizabeth–Who I Am, Where I’m From - Liz Emmerth Rexroad 
4. Dark Ecology and the Monstrous Mother in Old Gods of Appalachia - Paul Thomas
5. Misadventures with Backyard Chickens: Lessons on Heritage and Homesteading - Lockie Hunter
6. A Man Around the House: Lessons in Dumpster Diving and Sustainability - Lockie Hunter
7. Falling Rock Area - Deborah Fleming 
8. Homecoming: Love Notes on Sustainability for Appalachia - Sarah Powell

II.  Seeds and Saplings: Witness for Sustainability

1. Haunted in Place: Folktale Pedagogy - Taylor Nasim Stone
2. The Witches They Could Not Burn: Writing as Resistance in Appalachia - Sarah Long

Teaching with the Mountains: Reflections on Place and Identity in Science Education - Amanda Garner

1. Loyalty and Truth: Navigating Environmental Justice Conversations as a Coal Miner’s Daughter - Kristen LeFevers
2. Embodied Practices: Sustaining Students from Appalachia after Hurricane Helene - Elizabeth Weems
3. Foul and Fertile Ground: The Legacy Pollution of Coal Extraction and Its Implications on a Sustainable Appalachian Future - Aysha Bodenhamer and Luc Biscan-White 
4. Sustaining Appalachian Mobilities: Connecting Rail Trails with Local Histories in Western North Carolina - Matthew Calloway
5. An Abolitionist Future for Appalachia - Meghan Moore-Hubbard 
6. Fractured Lives, Resistant Roots: A Braided Essay Across Three Voices - Jessica Radicic
7. Residues and Regeneration in Northern Appalachia - David Blackmore
8. Walking the Homeplace - Jessica M.  Jones

III. Branches and Boughs: Reaching Toward Sustainability

1. Practice Everyday Wisdom—Appalachia Style - Larry Smith
2. Grow Porch Potatoes - Amanda E. Hayes  
3. Find Your Wild Place - Sarah Long
4. Map Your Appalachian Soft Skills - Sarah Powell
5. Rewild Your Yard - Jessica Jones 
6. Read Roadside Markers  - Matthew Calloway
7. Help Incarcerated Folks  - Meghan Moore Hubbard
8. Investigate Sustainability Practices in Appalachia - Kristen LeFevers
9. Hunt for Your Ancestral Stories - Elizabeth Tussey
10. Be a Creek Keeper - Richard Hague
11. Support Gender Identity  - Barbara Marie Minney
12. Cultivate an Eco-Friendly Household  - Patrice Stank
13. Take Part in Mutual Aid   - Christina Fisanick
14. Walk a Haiku Path to Advocacy - Barbara Sabol
15. Dance with the Ones that Came Before - Greg Bealer 
16. Be Our Best Selves - Kari Gunter-Seymour
17. Support Sustainable Efforts Across the Region  - Amanda E. Hayes and Jessica M. Jones

Bibliography

Contributors

Index

Editors

Jessica M. Jones serves as full-time faculty at Kent State University, where she teaches creative writing, Native American literature and place-based composition. She comes from a long line of makers and musicians in Northern Appalachia and prefers to live life out of doors. She holds a master’s from the University of Montana with K-12 licensure and training in Montana Indian Education for All. Her poetry and essays have been published in numerous journals and anthologies, and her chapbook, Bitterroot, can be found at Finishing Line Press.

Amanda E. Hayes teaches English and composition at Kent State University-Tuscarawas. Raised on a multigenerational family farm in Appalachian Ohio, she now researches and writes about regional traditions of literacy, storytelling, and education. Her works include The Politics of Appalachian Rhetoric and The Madison Women: Gender, Higher Education, and Literacy in Nineteenth-Century Appalachia.

Contributors: Greg Bealer, Luc Biscan-White, David Blackmore, Aysha Bodenhamer, Ivy Brashear, Matthew Calloway, Nicole Drewitz-Crockett, Christina Fisanick, Deborah Fleming, Amanda V. Garner, Karie Gunter-Seymour, Richard Hague, Amanda E. Hayes, Lockie Hunter, Jessica M. Jones, Kristen LeFevers, Sarah Long, Meghan Moore-Hubbard, Barbara Marie Minney, Jessica Radicic, Elizabeth Emmerth Rexroad, Barbara Sabol, Larry Smith, Patrice Stank, Taylor Nasim Stone, Paul Thomas, Elizabeth Tussey, and Betsy Weems.

Praise

“Wide Branches, Deep Roots is a joy to anyone who has known the truth all along—that sustainability and environmental stewardship in the Appalachian region is not just a passing fad, but an inherited practice since the region’s inception. Its impact will extend beyond the classroom to local historians, community organizers, and environmental activists who will find in it a mirror for their lived experiences accompanied with strong models of sustainable, place-based advocacy.”  –  Marti Wagnon, assistant professor of English in the School of Writing, Language, and Literature at Radford University