In The Land Of Tomatoes The Man With Strawberries Is King

Down here for as far as the eye can see there are houses side by side composing the underbelly of the Appalachian Bible College campus. Well, in reality it’s only 24 units, but if you are near sighted then I guess they are as far as the eye can see. These 24 units consisting of 12 individual houses, each split down the middle, all have gardens in front of them. The vast majority of the inhabitants have found it practical to grow vegetables in their garden instead of flowers. Upon taking notice of this I made a secondary observation: they all like to grow tomatoes, squash and cucumbers. So, being the ingenious man that I am, I found it profitable to grow something different so that I may both enjoy the fruits of my garden and trade for what others have in abundance. Well wouldn’t you know, the previous tenants in our unit have raised up a strawberry plant. In addition to that we have a blackberry bush out back. In village talk that makes us hot stuff I suppose. We have already investigated the demand and found strawberries to be a desired and rare item. Next year when summer rolls around we’ll have our pick of vegetables in exchange for some of our delectable berries.

We are really enjoying ourselves down here. The town is very charming, the people are incredibly friendly and the weather is a dream. I love the college already and I’ve haven’t set foot in a class--some would contend that is the reason why I love it.On campus we have a workout room which is accessible almost any time. A pool that we have access to when we really want to swim. A gym, tennis courts, soccer field, game room, and snack shop. The library has impressed me so much that they are still mopping drool off the floor from my first visit. Plus we are surrounded by other married couples our age. We feel very blessed to be here.

Beckley’s main industries are restaurants and hotels so the town really caters to tourists. The welcome center, called the Tamarack, is no exception. They host regular events (mostly bluegrass in nature) and conventions. This Saturday they are having a local theater performer put on a one woman show acting out Emily Dickinson poetry. It sounds interesting and it’s free so I believe Katie and I will go. It seems a bit odd to watch one person get paid to talk to herself for hours at a time. We had people like that in Baltimore, but we just called them hobos and their theater was the street corner. Oh well, art has mysterious ways.

Speaking of art Katie’s first quilt is still on eBay, in case you haven’t read the previous post. It’s on their for only five more days. You can check it out here.

You have been a lovely reader but this post is becoming too long. I must lay my keyboard to rest for now, lest someone should find my blog and think I am a novelist or an aimlessly rambling hobo with no regard for time.