On Christmas Eve, the Bees Sing

In the mountains, Christmas Eve has a way of getting quiet on purpose.

Two Christmases

I was fortunate to grow up in rural America with a mountain culture that got to experience two Christmases.

The Ghost of Christmas Lye Soap

If a home wasn’t scrubbed clean by Christmas morning, not company clean but honest clean, then something else showed up after midnight.

The Christmas Apple

That apple wasn’t for pie or kids or company. You gave it away to seal the blessing.

A Shout Out to Our Rural Volunteer EMS Services Everywhere

Looking Back at Farm Safety Before 911

Press the Advantage

A Rural Blueprint for Every State

Vinegar Pie: Poverty, pride, and how union wages changed a family’s table. #bigstonegap #appalachia

My Great Grandmother lived through years when Thanksgiving pies were made with vinegar because lemons were too expensive. When the UMWA came in and raised wages, she bought lemons for the first time. The story became family history.

Thanksgiving Without Vinegar Pie

The vinegar pie is an old Appalachian answer to a simple problem. Families wanted a dessert that tasted like a lemon pie, but lemons were rare and expensive.

Why Appalachians Ate Chicken and Dumplings on Thanksgiving

A tradition born from hard times that still finds its way to rural tables today

You Know Leadership When You See It

Mike McGirr for Chair of the Rural Caucus of the Virginia Democratic Party

From First Gen Story to Town Council Win. A Conversation with Councilman Elect Darryl Campbell

When the Siren Stops

Too Much of a Good Thing

By John W. Peace II — The Rural Route Newsletter

Mineworkers Are Not Backing Down This Election Season

Character Forged by Hardship

Yvonne Rorrer, Candidate for the VA House of Delegates, District 47

Why I Don’t Vote

The Missing Millions

The ROMEO Club Ain’t What It Used to Be

Safety is Job #1

And in rural America, safety trumps economics. Pun intended.

Never Heard of Charlie Kirk? You’re Not Alone

Inside the Alt Right World Democrats Keep Missing

MAYBE the Democratic Party Is Fixin’ Its Diversity and Rural Problem in Spite of Itself

What if the cavalry isn’t coming in a motorcade. Maybe it’s showing up in pickups and work boots.

What Does ‘Again’ Mean Exactly in MAGA?

Labor Day Reflections

On the 8th Day

*"And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, ‘I need a caretaker.’ So God made a farmer.

Maybe Democrats Should Just Let Trump Shoot Himself in the Foot

Red Silos, Blue Silos: Neither Side’s Listening