The Deal: Appalachia and 23 Things

Sorry to be away for so long. The garden and canning and the new job have just consumed my life. I know--excuses, excuses. You can see the products of our labor in the picture to the right. This is just the "ready room." You should see the root cellar. Enough beans, corn, tomatoes, tomato sauce, pickles, grape juice, peaches, and potatoes to last through the winter. Those heirloom seeds really produced when gardens around us were doing nothing. Now it is time to dry some apples and put back some cider.

So, what brought me back to the blog? Today, after a long day, I learned that the library at Appalachian State University is launching a group effort of "23 things." That is how this blog started last year when I signed up to do 23 things with the Society of American Archivists. I did it because I wanted to learn more about the new technology that is out there. I admit, I learned a lot. I also came to realize that I wasn't so comfortable with accounts with my information stored in the clouds and displayed all over the internet. I also wasn't very good at checking all the different e-mail accounts, twitter accounts--you name it. You think it is anonymous and that there are so many blogs and wikis out there that no one would notice yours--it was about archiving for goodness sakes. But find me, some people did.

Now the question becomes: Should I do it again? It is a different list of 23 things. It might be good for me. This program is giving us two weeks to do the designated "thing" instead of one. I guess I might as well do it, but here is the deal. I am going to talk about the experiments with the new technology tools, but I am also going to be talking about Appalachia. With each passing day, we lose a little more of the "old knowledge" of our ways. Archivists, more than anyone, understand how much is forgotten. Perhaps by making a practice of some of these "old ways"-- using heirloom seeds, canning, sulphuring apples--something will survive beyond me. I like the combination of technology and traditional culture.