Appalachian lifestyles – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

Learning To Carve Hornbeam

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Tomorrow’s Forest 71321a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

The heat of the July sun drives me to shade at the foot of my mountain. There in the dappled light of the forest edge I’m greeted by the hornbeam that I’ve come to truly appreciate. Since writing Forage Friday #84 on Hornbeam I’ve located a few pieces that were cast into a brush pile near a public road and hauled them home. Since the pile kept the pieces up of the ground they seasoned out well. Carving Hornbeam turned out to be both challenging and rewarding. I used a few knives that I’d made from pruning snips. Now these blades are very hard but the manufacturer makes them with cheap plastic handles and soft rivets that fail after a couple of years of service. So the broken parts are discarded and I fix the blade into a handle that’s usually made from branches that are collected from the trees and bushes that the snips once trimmed. Aluminum rivets are replaced with appropriate size nails that cut down to length and peened to make a tight fit. The result is a small utility knife that really retains an edge well. A second benefit is that bypass loppers are single bevel and great for making shallow cuts in the hard, twisted wood of Hornbeam.

Two of my “homemade” utility knives. These have handles made from yellow birch and held together with wooden pins and epoxy glue.

In the photo of the knives the top one was the first one that I ever made and is the single bevel. It’s been with me about 20 years and is great for striping bark and removing knots from natural stock.

Even though the homemade knives have a hard edge the hornbeam proved to be at the limit of what they can handle. After about a day of removing bark and knots from the hornbeam they both needed to be sharpened. I learned that you don’t really carve hornbeam in long pretty curls like you see most in woodcarving videos. Instead I wound up removing small chips until I had the rough shape and then finishing the work with files and a sander. I also learned that while hornbeam resists cracking one still must take measures to not let it dry out too quickly when you bring it inside your home. But the cracks were very minor and a filling of carpenter’s glue made them all but disappear. The grain of the wood criss-crosses so the hiking staff I was making didn’t suffer any loss of strength. The smaller twigs became blowgun darts. I’ve recently found that in addition to being a fun pastime the blowgun is an excellent lung exercise. The hornbeam darts are of various styles and sizes so I can find out what works best. I can’t say that I’m setting any records with it but it is a lot of fun.

As my skills grow in carving I’ll probably make a few things like spoons, cups and bowls and judging from the amount of seeds that my hornbeam is producing I should have plenty of stock to work with. And even though this wood is challenging to make things with it is a tight grain that yields an interesting piece once polished. And wood carving is a traditional Appalachian skill that should be kept alive.

Good night friends and be blessed throughout your days.

Announcement 2.0

For those who have been following me on Facebook and know of the struggle content providers have to get circulation from big tech I’ve been recommending for people to adopt MeWe as a social media platform. One of the problems I’ve run into on MeWe is that people don’t know how to navigate the platform. So to help with that I’ve created a permanent page on my website as a basic Basic Beginner’s Guide To MeWe I’ve tried to anticipate all basic questions there and You can bookmark the page to have as a reference and if you have any questions or suggestions don’t hesitate to contact me. I do still have a day job and I help admin several pages on both platforms so replies might be a little slow but I will answer you.

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Forage Friday #80 Pawpaw

Color Photography, Forage Friday

Hello Friends! Tonight’s Feature Image is titled “Pawpaw Leaves In Fall 102020a” and is available for purchase by clicking the thumbnail and reaching out to me on the contact page.

Please remember that Forage Friday is presented as trivia and not to be mistaken for medical advice.

“Pickin up pawpaws, put’em in your pocket.

Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch”

Every time I eat a pawpaw I hear my papa singing the old children’s song to us boys. I was fairly young but I remember sitting at the vintage art deco table eating his favorite breakfast of light bread and milk. During the Great Depression utilizing stale bread as breakfast cereal would have been a way to stretch out a precious commodity. And during the short season when they were available the pawpaws were a treat and probably eaten at multiple meals. In the Appalachian Mountains and throughout the South pawpaw trees were a popular part of the homestead. It’s an amazing fruit that has a custard like texture and tastes like a blend of Mango, Peach and Banana. And it may have come to West Virginia by way of Mammoth. The fruit is full of huge Chestnut brown seeds that have a thick leathery skin that would have allowed them to survive digestion. In fact In order to propagate a pawpaw from seed they have to frozen for about four months and then the coating knicked so the sprout can grow during germination. Scientists believe that as the mammoth migrated North the pawpaw hitched a ride in their bellies and eventually adapted to the climate of the mountains. They seem to be another edge species that thrives in partial shade and near water. And the biggest reason why we don’t see them in markets is because they have an extremely short shelf life. It’s only recently that some people are experimenting with them as a frozen product because the technology has advanced enough that they can be processed in the field. I have discovered that like bananas they tend to become sweeter as they age and I presume that is due to the breakdown of starch. I knew one person years ago that wouldn’t eat them until the ants became interested in them and then they were sweet enough for him to enjoy.

The entry in Petersen’s Field Guide To Wild Medicinal Plants says that Native Americans would grind the large seeds into a powder which was used to treat lice. As a defense against moths pawpaw trees produce chemicals that are toxic to insects. These chemicals known as Acetoginis are found in the leaves, inner bark and seeds of the pawpaw. In fact the only insect that I’m aware of that eats pawpaw leaves is the larvae of the Zebra Swallowtail.

The inner bark of a pawpaw is said to be good for making ropes and baskets.

Well, that’s it for tonight friends. Good night and be blessed throughout your days.

Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!

To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.

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The Hay Ride

black and white photography, Uncategorized

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “The Hay Wagon” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The cool night air bites at my cheeks as I stare up into the crystal clear sky. The sun disappeared behind the mountains early in the evening but there’s still a soft purple hue on the horizon. There was a few streetlights dotted throughout the rural community but not so many as to ruin the view of star. The night sky is unbroken by the blinking lights of passenger jets in those days. By the time I was a sophomore in high school I’d had enough allergy treatments to allow me to participatein a hay ride. I had tucked a few antihistamine pills in my pocket just in case I started to have a reaction but they were unnecessary. I leaned back against the wooden sides of the wagon and thought about how much the stars resembled sugar sprinkled across the opaque dome of a late fall night. The only sounds at the moment were the steady clip clop of the horse’s hooves on the hardtop lane. The hay helped keep the youth group warm in the bitter night air and we were covered by beautifully designed Appalachian quilts. And there was rich hot chocolate made with whole milk. Then I felt someone take my hand and I looked down to see the new girl in the group looking up at me. We never spoke. I was too shy in my teen years and seemed to babble and stutter around the girls. Fortunately for me she didn’t speak either. We just cuddled up under the quilt and looked at stars. Nobody seemed to notice us as the horse pulled the wagonload of teenagers through the hills. That is, until the wagon pulled up at her house and she gave me my first kiss before she went inside.

When I see a hay wagon I’m always taken back to a simpler time. A time when the simple things in life were the most important things and we took the time to enjoy them. And, our lives were fully enriched when time was our own.

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A Late Summer Break At Kanawha Falls

Color Photography

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Kanawha Falls 82219a” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The late August sun pours down on the Kanawha River as my big blue truck comes to a rest under the arching trees. The roar of the falls drowns out the days noise and pushes away all of the pressures of civilization. I watched as the geese flew in and landed on the bare rocks that stand out from the falls. One by one they meander along until they find just the right spot to settle down for a break. It seems that they instinctively know that this place is a fortress to provide isolation from the modern world. I can feel the air flowing from the top of falls as it spills into valley. Occasionally the bird chatter is strong enough to breech the sound of the rushing water giving a contrast to the droning falls. Small flashes of sunlight dance among the ripples on the river’s surface as the minnows dart around in the shallows. A little farther down the banks a trail of smoke rises into the air and travels downstream as a fisherman prepares for an evening of trying to get the one that got away last time.

I wander around taking notice of the odd shapes of driftwood and color variations on the sandstone pebbles until my sense of peace is contented. Before making my way back to the big blue truck I raised my lens for a few shots of the falls so I can bring the peaceful feeling to you.

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Echoes Of A Lifetime

black and white photography

The cool morning air sweeps across the weathered wood and rusted tin roof of the old barn on Muddelty Creek. The marsh in back of the barn seems oddly silent. All summer the reeds and rushes were teeming with life. Today only a single yellow butterfly skips over the cattail down and ruby red rose hips. I turn my attention to the old barn. It seems to be missing more of its rusted tin roof. It sags a little more than I remember from my last trip.

Barns are the heart of the homestead. They house the animals and store the feed. It’s normally where at least some of the equipment is held. It’s where the hands are happy. Busy hands are happy hands of course. Barns are the engine that powers a life close to the land. Sometimes they smell like hay and grains. Sometimes it’s the animals or even grease and oil from the machines. It all depends on the purpose of the barn which often changes in the course of a lifetime. The sounds of a barn will range from the livestock to growl of a diesel engine but it always includes human voices. Conversations between fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, siblings and friends and any combination there of are soaked into the rough hewn walls and beams. The voice of the barn is their echoes and the story it tells us is that they slept in the house, but they lived here.

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