Welcome to Appalachian Mimzy! 

 

I am a multi-multi-generational, Appalachian, cis woman (she/hers). All the ancestors I can remember were born somewhere here in the Appalachian mountains, and the recent ancestors they would tell stories of were also from here. Beyond that at some point most of my family was English, Irish, Scottish, and German. 

 

My own Appalachian mother always said there was something in the mountains here, a force of gravity and magnetism that would always lead you back. And it did, for me, as well as for her. After a childhood and early adulthood spent away from here, which is a story for a different day, I came back to settle in West Virginia (the heart of Appalachia, and the only state to be fully in the Appalachian region). And upon my return is when I learned to appreciate, love, and respect my Appalachian heritage – and I began FINALLY to listen to the wisdom of my Appalachian mother, grandmothers, aunts, and all the other amazing women in my life. Many of those women including my mother and her mother are now gone, and I deeply regret that I did not begin truly listening earlier. I lost a chance to learn, and to grow, and to see the world through their wisdom-filled eyes. 

 

And so as I became a grandmother myself in May 2023, and chose the title Mimzy, I realized I wanted to capture and record as much as I could remember from my ancestors, and document and share the things I have learned over the years in the hope that these invaluable lessons will not be lost with me but may continue on.