Climbing rope is meant to last, but eventually wears out.
Outdoor gear can last a long time, but it wears out. Most of it, you have to throw away.
In western North Carolina, though, there’s a climber-turned-crafter who keeps old climbing gear out of the landfill and turns it into art. Folkways reporter Emily Chen-Newton had this story.
Neighbors Helping Neighbors After Flooding
Flooding caused by Hurricane Helene has devastated communities across western North Carolina and east Tennessee.
Recovery efforts in western North Carolina continue. After the storm, neighbors jumped in to help each other before government officials and outside help could arrive. They’re still holding each other up. Blue Ridge Public Radio’s Gerard Albert III, reported.
Surf’s Up On The Gauley River
Part of the journey to the river includes crossing a tall, narrow old railroad bridge that crosses the river.
Briana Heaney/ West Virginia Public Broadcasting
You wouldn’t think so, but yes, you can surf in landlocked West Virginia. During the Gauley river’s rafting season, surf’s up –at least for a while. WVPB’s Briana Heaney had more.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Christian Lopez, Caleb Caudle, Steve Earle, Sierra Ferrell, Appalachian Road Show and Blue Dot Sessions…
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. We had help this week from folkways editor Jennifer Goren.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
A good blanket will keep you warm — but a handmade temperature blanket can convey a message to a loved one. This week, we talk to crocheters who make and share their art.
Since 2018, there’s been an explosion of LGBT writing about Appalachia. The editor of the new essay collection “Deviant Hollers” tells us about it and more.
And there’s an alternative to invasive bamboo, and it’s native to the region and found by rivers.
New Book Explores Queer Appalachian Life And The Environment
A Bamboo To Call Our Own
Henderson Guitars For The Next Generation
Temperature Blankets Record Life
Karen Long is making a blanket of 2024’s high temperatures for herself.
Photo Credit: Wendy Welch/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Temperature blankets are a popular project among crocheters. They began as a way for artists to document the daily temperatures of a year, using red yarn for record highs and shades of blue for the cooler days. But the tradition of telling a story through textiles goes back to ancient times.
Folkways reporter Wendy Welch had the story.
Henderson Guitars For The Next Generation
Jayne Henderson builds her own future as a guitar and ukulele maker.
Photo Credit: Margaret McLeod Leef/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Guitars by Wayne Henderson are prized by players who are willing to wait up to a decade to get their hands on one, but his daughter, Elizabeth Jayne Henderson, grew up wary of following in her father’s footsteps.
But Jayne decided to carry on the family tradition, but in her own way. Folkways reporter Margaret McLeod Leef had this story.
New Book Explores Queer Appalachian Life And The Environment
Courtesy “Deviant Hollers,” edited by Zane McNeill and Rebecca Scott with foreword by Stephanie Foote.
The number of books and articles about Appalachia’s LGBT communities has grown with recent works like Neema Avashia’s “Another Appalachia” and Willie Carver Jr’s “Gay Poems for Red States.” Now, a new collection of essays explores the intersection of queer Appalachian life and the environment. The book is titled “Deviant Hollers: Queering Appalachian Ecologies for a Sustainable Future.”
Mason Adams spoke with the book’s editor Zane McNeill.
A Bamboo To Call Our Own
Volunteers in southwestern Virginia are trying to revitalize river cane.
Photo Credit: Roxy Todd/Radio IQ
There are more than 1400 varieties of bamboo in the world.The most common variety in the U.S. is Golden or fishpole bamboo from China, but America has a native species, too. It was once commonly found in Appalachia near rivers and streams.
The species was nearly wiped out, but a group of mostly volunteers is working to restore the plant in southwestern Virginia.
Roxy Todd reported.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Jeff Ellis, Blue Dot Sessions, John Inghram, Paul Loomis and Frank George.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. We had help this week from folkways editors Mallory Noe Payne and Jennifer Goren. You can find us on Instagram and Twitter @InAppalachia.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
For Sue and Stan Jennings, woodworking isn’t just a way to make a living, it’s a way of life. What started out as a passion for the craft was born out of necessity. Over the last 30 years, the Jennings have developed a thriving business making wood objects called treenware — small wooden kitchen utensils.
This story originally aired in the April 21, 2024 episode of Inside Appalachia.
For Sue and Stan Jennings, woodworking isn’t just a way to make a living, it’s a way of life. What started out as a passion for the craft was born out of necessity. Over the last 30 years, the Jennings have developed a thriving business making wood objects called treenware — small wooden kitchen utensils.
The Jennings learned to make spoons through a lot of trial and error. But both of them can trace their passion for woodworking back to their childhoods.
Sue grew up helping out her father who was a contractor. Stan’s father had a sawmill and his grandfather was a carpenter. “I had a little bit of woodworking in my DNA,” Stan says.
Their mutual love of woodworking ended up being the foundation for their own relationship as a couple.
“When I met my husband, we were both working in the coal mines underground. And when we first started getting to know each other, the question we would ask is, ‘If you had anything in the world you wanted to do, what would be first on your list?’” Sue says. “And I said I wanted to be a woodworker. And he had the same dream. So right off the bat we knew there was something pretty special there.”
The chance to chase their dreams came sooner than expected. Not long after the couple met, Sue and Stan were laid off from the mines.
“We all walked in and got our pink slips and that was the end of our coal mining business,” Sue says. “And that’s how this evolved, because we needed a way to make a living.”
To make ends meet, the couple started selling odds and ends at craft shows. During that time, both experimented with making spoons.
Stan says the first set of spoons he made were less than impressive, but were created from the heart. And because he needed a cheap present for Sue.
“I suppose I was too tight to buy a Christmas gift,” Stan says. “I made her a set of dogwood spoons. And that was actually the first set of spoons we made. I’m ashamed to even show people, it turned out so bad, but Sue hung on to them.”
Sue also caught the spoon-making bug and tried to make a set herself. “The first spoon I made was a set of measuring spoons, and I made it out of rhododendron [wood],” Sue says. “And that’s because we had gone to a show and we met a spoon maker, and we talked and talked about him. I was fascinated from the very beginning.”
The Jennings discovered there was a whole culture around wooden utensils when they stumbled upon the book Treen and other wooden bygones. This book ended up changing the direction of their business. But they almost didn’t buy it.
“At the time it was like a $50 book and we stood there and agonized over spending $50 on this book because we couldn’t afford a book for $50,” Sue says. “So there was our first exposure to the word ‘treen.’”
Sue Jennings holding her copy of Treen and other wooden bygones, a book by Edward H. Pinto.
Photo Credit: Capri Cafaro/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Treen is a Saxon word that refers to wooden items made from the tree for use in the kitchen or dairy. After buying the book, Allegheny Treenware was born. Much of the inspiration for their product design — and the name of their business — has come from the book.
Over 30 years later, the book is still on their shelves. It’s thick and well-worn, filled with photos of wooden kitchen items. There is a clear design connection between what is in the book and what the Jennings make today. The items are both functional and beautiful.
Over the years, the couple has grown as craftspeople thanks to a combination of grit and learning from other woodworkers. Now, times are not as tight and their process is much more sophisticated. They have several employees and a workshop full of high-end equipment. Their treenware is sold online all around the world, and the spoons are coveted collector’s items.
There’s a lot of action on the shop floor to fulfill these orders. Staff shift between workstations dedicated to a specific purpose. Each spoon starts with a pattern that is traced onto a board of wood and cut, just like a clothing pattern for fabric.
“When we make the spoon or whatever, there’s no duplicating machines, there’s no computerized equipment. Everything is truly made by hand here at this shop,” Sue says.
While there is now a team behind Allegheny Treenware, the Jennings reserve the most difficult part of the process for themselves: the shaping finish of the spoon. This requires very coarse sandpaper on a spinning disc which can cut your hands if you’re not careful.
Sue says her approach to shaping is different from Stan’s. She pre-shapes the spoon first, while Stan starts by planning things out before he sits down at a machine. “We’re different sides of the brain and we go about things differently,” Sue says. “[Stan’s] very methodical and I’m not, but we end up in the same place.”
Patterns used to make wooden utensils at Allegheny Treenware.
Photo Credit: Capri Cafaro/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The Jennings also have complimentary skills as business partners, especially when they were selling at craft shows.
Sue reflects on how she and Stan would interact with customers. “I’m always at the booth selling and his job was to entertain,” she says. “He’d be hand-carving a spoon and he’d be telling stories, entertaining the men while the women went shopping. It worked perfectly.”
Before a spoon is complete, there are some finishing touches put on it. They burn their initials “SJ” into the spoon and then soak it in food grade oil to bring out the color of the wood.
Back of a classic wooden “granny spoon” made by Allegheny Treenware.
Photo Credit: Capri Cafaro/West Virginia Public BroadcastingDetail of engraving on the back of a wooden spoon made by Allegheny Treenware to indicate it is made of cherry wood. Initials “SJ” indicate the product was made by Sue and Stan Jennings.
Photo Credit: Capri Cafaro/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
These spoons are much more than wooden utensils. They represent the sweat equity of one couple who has stayed true to their dreams, and each other, for over three decades.
The Folkways Reporting Project is made possible in part with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts and culture.
