My journey to a simple and traditional lifestyle began when I was a child sitting at my grandmother’s kitchen table listening to the stories of her childhood and the way the old timers did things, with strong emphasis on my mixed Irish and Cherokee heritage. There and in my day to day I learned what it meant to be an Appalachian, a mountaineer, born in the east Kentucky hills. The road took me away from the mountains for a few years and in that time it was obvious to me where I belonged and how I was meant to live. You can take the mountain woman out of the mountains, but you can’t take the mountains out of her.
My husband was feeling the same pressures of the city life and after our girls were born we decided our mission was to move back home as soon as it was possible. We are home now, and our goals in life are basic – live alongside the land as stewards of it, work in our respective fields (mine being writing) to preserve and pass on our unique east Kentucky heritage, to parent our children from a place of peace allowing them to create their own experiences in a natural environment, and using the traditional methods and foods of our people to achieve these goals.
I write on varied topics of off-grid/country living, Appalachian culture, parenting, writing, traditional foodways, exercise, day to day living, and social commentary. The thread that connects them together is the voice. The voice of one born in the hills, making a life in the hills, and one that will someday be laid to rest under the trees on those hills gracefully returning to earth.
Please vote in my poll in the left hand column of the main page to let me know what kinds of posts you like to see on this site. Multiple votes are allowed. Thanks. 🙂
Kelli B. Haywood has received professional development funding through the Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, supported by state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
23 comments
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March 16, 2009 at 12:58 am
jennifer woodmansee
I love that you are doing this, Kelli. You are always full of surprises for me.
April 5, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Melissa
I just wanted to say I love your new blog!!! I also wanted to mention those “ladybugs” are asian beetles and will overrun your home. They also pinch if on the skin for very long at all. Just thought I’d mention it since you have littles. Looking forward to everything you have to say!
April 6, 2009 at 12:02 am
eastkentuckygal
Thanks so much!! It’s always good to here that someone likes what I’m writing. It’s good to get the constructive criticism too. We haven’t figured out how to get rid of these ladybugs yet. I haven’t a clue. We aren’t the only ones with them around here this year.
April 6, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Melissa
The only thing I have found is to suck them up with the vaccum. They stink like dirt or something so you will have to dump your vaccum out or it will stink when you turn it on. They are suseptable to flying insect spray, but not sure if you want chemicals in the house. We have them too. In my laundry room of all places. They slowly migrate other places and are attracted to light. Best of luck, they drive me batty. I have your blog in my faves. I am a neighbor-Missourian.
April 10, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Scott
get you some chickens to eat those things up
May 14, 2009 at 7:19 pm
lesleehorner
Hi! I’ve recently discovered your blog and have enjoyed reading it. It seems that you and I have some things in common. I used to be a teacher, but am now a full-time mom to two daughters. Both of my daughters were born by c-section and I so desperately wanted a natural birth…especially the second time (when I had educated myself). I am also a writer (I’ve written 2 novels and just started blogging) and my husband is a musician-though he also has a day job.
I would love to hear more about your writing…especially the novels. Although I’m sure if I explore your blog some more I could find what I’m looking for.
Anyway, thanks for sharing your experiences here! You are an excellent writer!
Leslee
http://www.lesleehorner.wordpress.com
August 9, 2009 at 8:28 pm
poetic44anodyne
I just now see your blog and am so envious ! I visited the mountains of montana a few years back and fell in love. I’m currently living in a busy metropolis and hate it ! I too want to just be a steward of the land and appreciate the magic and mystery of nature.. live with it, not try to master nature. Anyway.. you write beautifully and I wish you many blessings, to you and your family ! :o)
Beth
http://poetic44anodyne.wordpress.com/
September 30, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Mark Keeling
I liked the copperhead story, we have alot of them here in NC, interesting, I will continue to follow you, let me know of any good snake stories.
October 12, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Stacyroo77
Hi there from NC! We don’t know each other, but I came across a link to your blog on a TTC site. Just wanted to let you know that I love reading about your adventures… 🙂
Have a great day!
November 12, 2009 at 2:37 am
Stephanie Broersma
Hi Kelli,
I really enjoyed reading your blog. It sounds like we are interested in some of the same choices in life.
Look forward to getting to know you at homeschool meetings.
Stephanie
February 3, 2010 at 12:56 am
Everett Hale
Kelli,
Thank you so much for the insight you provide those of us quite a distance with a heavy history in the Appalachians. I’m not typically a blog kind of guy…but yours has definitely caught my attention. Thanks for taking the time and effort to write about your experiences. I enjoy every aspect of your writings.
God bless your effort!
Everett
February 3, 2010 at 2:27 am
eastkentuckygal
Thank you for reading. I’m glad you found it a nice place to be. There are many Hales around me in these hills. That’s a good name. 🙂
June 19, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Aneta
Dear Kelli,
I came across your blog about a week or so ago, and have been lurking around your archives, reading them from start to end.
I love your honesty: the raw, unpretentious sharing of your life and emotions. I thank you for this courage. Many times I’ve either laughed out loud, or cried – tears steaming down my face.
You are an articulate, perceptive and fascinating writer. I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog so far, wish you well with your fiction writing and new blog, but hope that you continue to write and share here for very much longer. Thank you again.
Blessed be.
June 20, 2010 at 12:21 pm
eastkentuckygal
Thank you so much. Your words really mean a lot to me. 🙂 A whole lot. My heart is in this blog, and I think I will be here for quite awhile. It goes back and forth – my focus – I have my hands in a bit much right now, but it always comes back to this. Writing my story as it happens. It always has come back to plain and simple writing. Be blessed as well… we all are. 🙂
June 21, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Pops
Dad Loves!!!!!!!!
August 2, 2010 at 2:15 am
Laura @ Getting There
Hello Kelli–I found your blog today after I had been listening to John Denver’s song Country Roads, which has the line “West Virginia, mountain mama.” I thought to myself, “I bet there’s a blog somewhere called Mountain Mama,” so I googled it to see what I would find, which led me to you.
I like your blog and your articulate writing style very much, and I am especially interested in the fact that you’re a writer by profession. I was a writer, once, of sorts. I dreamed of writing beautiful novels. Oh, how I lusted after the idea! I only finished 10 chapters of my first book, and then I fell off the bandwagon when I had a difficult pregnancy and was too tired to write. I never got back into it, and the dream faded. Now, with three kids and planning on a fourth, life seems too crazy and the house too noisy to do any real writing. But I think about it all the time. I need to just do it. Maybe I will start by writing in a journal to get the juices flowing again. I have a blog, too, which I enjoy although the light and conversational tone I use there is nothing like my fiction style at all.
Anyhow, nice to meet you! I’m an urban homesteader, I guess you’d say, from Ontario.
May 20, 2011 at 2:02 am
betsy
thanks for following your heart inspiring others to do the same.
May 30, 2011 at 7:17 pm
JO
Just found your web site iam an older eastern ky girl you are doing something great here by letting people know what life can be like in these hills.I think my favoraite thing to do is hang clothes on the line while my kids play in the creek behind the house with the garden up and the chickens clucking and singing in the background with the smell of honeysuckles in the air what could be better .
June 14, 2012 at 6:13 pm
Bethany
I know your not on here much, but I think of you when I’m driving through E. Kentucky. I live in northern Indiana but I have family in Morristown, TN. We take 25E from Corbin on down. My family heritage is from Laurel and Rockcastle counties. Reese/Wolf/Ponder/O’Hare(Irish). That’s the ancestry I’m aware of anyway. I check in here every once in a while…i guess I like to think you could be a cousin and I like to hear of your life there.
I always love hearing my grandmothers stories (Cornett/Hall)
October 4, 2012 at 4:08 pm
Sarah
I just came across your website when I was looking for some recipes and absolutly love it! My family is all from southeastern Kentucky and most still live there but due to mine and my husband’s jobs we are living in Houston which is a very different lifestyle. I love that you are raising your girls the way you were raised and are keeping the old traditions alive. This is something that me and my husband try to do with our daughter but it gets hard being so far away! (and of course, living in a huge city!) Thank you for the inspiration and the yummy recipes! They definetly bring back great memories for me!
May 7, 2014 at 7:35 pm
Sarah
I stumbled onto your website when I googled ‘Kentucky soup beans’. I moved away from eastern KY when I was 13 and never learned my grandmother’s recipes. Now that I have young ones of my own, I want to share some of my favorite foods from when I was young. I look forward to poking around your website, maybe it will conjure up some fun memories. 🙂 PS I have lived in several states and visiting many countries, including Italy where they believe they invented the tomato, but in all my travels I have never tasted tomatoes as food as the ones grown in Kentucky.
August 29, 2015 at 4:41 pm
jonellgallowayJonell Galloway
I tried to sign up for your newsletter, but the site crashes. Great work you’re doing!
February 5, 2016 at 1:12 pm
Faye Wakefield
Hi Kelly, l just found your blog and it’s nice to see someone from eastern Kentucky doing this. I am from up there, Pikeville to be exact. Your right about that I read. I now live in Alabama. Love here, raised my family here. My parents moved to Michigan when I was 15 lived 15 years. Met the love of my life who was from Alabama. We married had four children all born up there, move here when the oldest was eight. Would love to hear more about what you are doing up there.