-Bea Sias
Grow Appalachia, Logan, WV.

On February 23, 2016 my Site Supervisor and I left Charleston, West Virginia at 12:00 pm for Berea, Kentucky. She had a friend in Liberty, Kentucky so we spent the night there. We got up early so we could stop by Martin’s Supplies to browse through their seeds. Fortunately, she had an actual map of Kentucky so we could find our way around. We took the back roads to the seed store, we really enjoyed seeing all the beautiful homes, cattle and especially those big farms.
Unfortunately, even with a map, we got lost and drove for about two and half to three hours trying to find Martin’s Produce and Supply Store. Unable to locate the store, the only option left was to ask a few people. We received some good directions, so we kept rolling along.

We finally made it to the store, which by our surprise is owned by an Amish family. I loved shopping at the Amish store, I could spend all day in them. There were so many items available, spices, cheese, and beautiful furniture. The jellies and jams were my favorite and so delicious. They had a vast variety of seed selections, you could spend all day going through them. I have never looked at so many seeds in my life in one store. We stayed at the store for about three hours, going through as much seeds as possible. By the end we were both thrilled with our purchases.

Our gardeners in West Virginia farm big plots of land, so we will be needing a huge amount of seeds. We are all thankful for Grow Appalachia for providing enough material and supplies for many families, and also to organizations such as Children Foster Care Homes, Low income families, schools, and people who have fallen down on their luck. I am so anxious to tell my Gardeners and other groups that as soon as the weather gets warmer, snow has stopped, and the ground is not frozen, that we are ready to garden and have good fresh food right at our finger tips.