Don't forget Witches' Brew is now available as a downloadable ebook.

Witches’ Brew is a fictional story set in the late 1920’s based on songs written by Melissa Dodd, a native Appalachian Mountaineer.  The family in this story could have been any family with their strong religious beliefs combined with the ancient art of spells and witch doctors. Beth, the young girl is our story, chases an old family mystery which was set in motion years earlier when a bootlegger’s son and a preacher’s daughter met under the  ol’ ‘Witching Tree’. You can access the song Witches' Brew by clicking here. A friend helped me to sound like I am on AM radio. Let me know what you think. You can also access it from the front of the book.

Along with Witches' Brew, Santa Sheds is also available by paper back. It is a children's book (or for adults with animals instead of children) about a two dogs, a squirrel, and a pig helping Santa save Christmas.

“Wagging Tails… Wagging Tails…

Santa’s on his way.

Hope he can fit all our presents

In that little sleigh.”

All my books can be found on my Amazon author page at 

amazon.com/author/mdodd.

Animals of High Mountain Farm

The dogs and goats coexist in our four acre pasture on High Mountain Farm and seem to truly care about each other. The dogs protect the goats while Frances, the goat in the picture with horns, scratches Jake's ears and neck for him.

The Electric Fence

Yesterday morning it was cold and of course, the electric fence quit working. It was barely making a clicking sound which meant that it was still connected but shorted somewhere.  Mr. B was at work so I was responsible for walking the fence row on our four acre pasture. Brrrrrrrrr.............

Map of Appalachia

States which have counties lying within the boundaries of Appalachia:

Alabama                      Pennsylvania

Georgia                       South Carolina

Kentucky                    Tennessee

Maryland                     Virginia

Mississippi                   W. Virginia

New York

North Carolina

Ohio.

I borrowed the map seen here from The Center for Appalachian Studies and Services  from East Tennessee State University.

Foggy Evening

Great Pyrenees History From AKC

Mr. B and The Dawg

I love our Great Pyrenees. Jake, is more animal oriented but will allow us to pet him on occasion. Our female, The Dawg, loves everyone and the animals. She was instrumental in turning Jake into a great herding dog.

From the Wood Pile / The Cook Stove

Drawing by Melissa Dodd copyright 2007

 In the original journal, this section would answer questions sent in by readers.

The answers are strictly personal opinion.

Q. What type of wood is best for the cook stove?

A. Ash, Maple and Poplar burn well and don’t burn your grates up. Locust will get so hot that it will warp the grates in your cook stove.

Time to Cut Wood

Mr. B and I used today for a well deserved rest although we still had to finish cleaning up and return some borrowed scales we used to weigh the sausage. The packages of  'Old Plantation' mix we used seasons 25 lbs of sausage and we had 125 lbs of sausage so we used 5 packs of seasoning.

Well, the sausage is made and tenderloin is now cut up and vacuum wrapped. We made our own sausage this year so it was a big job. Today, we ground 125 lbs with ours and his parents. Mixing it by hand is a real chore and it has to be thoroughly mixed or some will be too spicy and other not spicy enough. All we lack now is the hog's head, rendering the lard and cutting up the liver. The hams and middling meat will cure in the meat house for about 3 to 4 months.

Hog Killing Day

Today is the day and we have been up since before dawn getting everything prepared.

Thanksgiving

The turkey is in the oven stuffed with that wonderful dressing that Mr. B likes so much. He actually got up at 4:00am and got the turkey out of the fridge and turned on the coffee for me. God has been good to us here on High Mountain Farm and we thank him and give all the glory to him on this wonderful Thanksgiving day.

Pre-Turkey Day

Pre-Turkey Day and I am almost ready to start the cooking festivities. I always cook a turkey and dressing so let the games begin. This year Mr. B has decided on potato salad instead of mashed potatoes and baked beans instead of green beans. So, today, I will make the potato salad, deviled eggs, and mix up my dressing (without the wet ingredients) to be ready for stuffing the turkey at 6:00am tomorrow.

We are also killing hogs on Friday if all goes well, so I need to go get the meat grinder, clean out the meat house and get the camcorder charged up and ready to go.

It's going to be a busy day and yes that is a Christmas Tree in my picture. God Bless - Melissa

Firey Dawn

The dogs have been trying to catch a nap this morning and the goats piled in on top of them.
You can barely see them above the gap.

Preparations For Curing Fresh Pork

It's been a busy day as we begin preparations for the fresh pork we will soon have. Mr. B, my husband, will cure the meat using red and black ground (not crushed) pepper along with brown sugar and salt. I will try to record the process this year as he does it. The shoulders must also be ground for making sausage, then seasoned, mixed and put in quart bags or cooked and canned. We usually do a little of both. When all is done, we will have meat to carry us for about two years so the investment is worth the work. We will end up with backbones, streaked meat, ribs, tenderloin, fatback, hog's jaw and ham.

Sunday Morning On High Mountain Farm

When I look out my window and see the awesome beauty of High Mountain, I know that God exists. My eyes behold his great works and answered prayers as I give thanks for all he has done for us.
Psalm 75:1
Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.

Goat Breeds

There are several different types of goats and the breed you need depends entirely on what you intend to do with them. If you're looking for meat perhaps the Boer, if for milk, you may want to look at the Nubian. Our goats are mainly for keeping the surrounding pasture cleaned up, so breed was not so important. Ours are a definite mixture between pygmy and some other white/red mixture. Only one of our goats has horns. When we first bought them, we would get brown and black mixed in with the red/white but we finally bred the brown /black out for the most part. After a while, we decided not to breed them anymore so we kept the females and sold the males.
For more information check out this link on goats at http://home.earthlink.net/~lureynolds/breeds.html.

Goats

Our goats can't seem to leave the hogs alone at feeding time. They are like a bunch of kids waiting on mom to look the other way.

Friday Morning

We start early on High Mountain Farm. At daylight, the rooster has been crowing for over an hour and the dogs want a treat so no matter the temperature or weather you have to go out. A self-sustainable life style means hard work and devotion to make it all come together.

BISCUIT MAKING TECHNIQUE

Making Biscuits is an art and it's one of those things that will improve the more you do it. I learned the basics from my Mom years ago and then have improved upon the technique which works best for me. I have made this particular pan with self-rising flour. You can find the ingredients required for making them with plain flour on line. I like the self-rising flour and as long as I can get it, I will use it. The video which you can view by clicking here or on the permanent link to the left is designed to walk you through the technique. Remember, this is simply the way that I do it and as long as you achieve great biscuits, do it however works best for you.

Evening on High Mountain

Twitter Account/The Dawg

I have a link to my Melissa Dodd Twitter Account on the right. If you would like to join me as I go about my activities on High Mountain Farm, be sure to go there and choose the follow button. I try to post pictures of our goings on every day.

Pictured here is 'The Dawg', our female Great Pyrenees and one of our past babies with her mother keeping close watch. Great Pyrenees are such gentle giants. They are really rambunctious as young dogs but usually start settling down at about one year.

It is best to start them out with a trained dog to learn the ropes of their job. Once trained, they are the best.

Possums Will Prey On Chickens

Question:  Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
Answer: To get away from the Possum.

Opossums commonly called the possum are about the size of a fat cat. Usually they are greyish in color and have small black ears and a pointed pink snout. They are a nocturnal creature and you very seldom see them during the daylight hours.

If you keep chickens on your farm, possums are your enemy. Although they don't look very dangerous and generally don't move very fast, they will kill your chickens.

Morning clouds on High Mountain farm

Early November Snow

Once again, Snow covers the ground on High Mountain Farm. This early November Snow doesn't equal the first one of the season but none the less it brings a renewed sense of urgency and preparation. Winter is right around the corner now and it's almost hog killing time. Already Mr. B, my husband, is talking about home made biscuits and fresh tenderloin. Although the fresh pork tends to run my blood pressure up, who can resist the smell of frying meat on the ol' cook stove.

Great Pyrenees of High Mountain

If you have goats, cattle,or sheep, you will need some type of dog to stay with them in the pasture. When we had to make this decision, we selected the Great Pyrenees and now four years later, we don't regret it for a second. Pictured second is Jake. He was our second addition and took a bit of training as he was not accustomed to working with livestock when we got him. Luckily for us we had already found 'The Dawg" pictured top.

Origin of the Term Appalachia

The Appalachian culture is slowly fading as family members move away and newcomers arrive. This is especially noticeable in the speech patterns of today's mountaineers. I have tried to stay as close as possible to the old speech when writing Witches' Brew. My husband's family still speak in the old way so it is easy for me to slip into their dialogue.

So, where did the term Appalachia originate? I wondered. After a little research, here is what I discovered.

Apparently, while exploring in 1528 on the coast of what is known today as Florida, the Narvaez expedition came upon a Native American Village close to today’s Tallahassee, FLA. They transcribed the name as Apalchen/Apalachen but this was soon changed to Apalachee by the Spanish.

Words of Inspiration

Do you ever wake up during the night and suddenly feel afraid? I call these episodes “moments of terror”. Satan will use the night and moments of terror to try and frighten you into a reaction. No one wants to be afraid and people will go to great lengths to make them go away. Drinking and drugs are two of the ways that Satan offers as remedies to fear. He promises escape but alcohol and drugs only hide the symptoms for a short time and with them come a new terror called addiction. No matter how you dress up addiction, it is still addiction and once addicted, Satan tightens his hold on your life but it doesn’t have to be this way.

God’s promise is found in Isaiah 41:13

“For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.”