Charlotte Underwood was raised and continues to live on a small mountain farm in rural Campbell County, Tennessee. There she observed her mother and grandparents practicing time-tested agricultural traditions, including seed saving, planting by the signs, foraging, food preservation through canning and drying, preserving family recipes, and preparing medicinal tonics. In 2022, as part of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, Charlotte deepened her knowledge of these agricultural folkways while studying alongside and documenting her mother, Jeanette.
“I’ve been canning and gardening and foraging for about 28 years,” Charlotte explains. “My mother taught me and so did my grandparents some. I mushroom hunt, berry pick, and can every year.” The apprenticeship, however, provided an opportunity to go deeper. “While my mother has taught me canning and foraging and growing, it was time to learn these more in depth in such a way to preserve my heritage.”
For Charlotte, the traditions are deeply personal. “Canning and gardening are very important in my family. It is how we survived when I was younger and how my mom fed us six kids. We gardened and farmed. With the ever-changing world, it’s important to pass these folk traditions on so heirloom seeds don’t die out along with the Appalachian way of life. It’s time to document the recipes and learn more about planting by the signs. If these ways are documented and preserved, they won’t be lost.”
As part of this year’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, Charlotte is teaching Appalachian agricultural folkways to her wife and apprentice, Joanna Underwood. “I grew up gardening and enjoying fresh produce from my grandparents’ garden,” Joanna explains. “However, it wasn’t until moving to East Tennessee that I began to see it as both an art form and a way of life. In 2019, we moved here without a penny to our name, and during that first year we lived largely on my new mother-in-law’s canned goods, chicken, and venison. That first winter was spent listening to countless stories about how they had always lived from what they could grow, preserve, and cook. My wife’s fondest memories come from a time when their family didn’t even have electricity, so she learned to cook on a wood stove during the 1980s and 1990s. I started a small garden in 2020 and began helping my wife and mother-in-law with food preservation and seed saving. Over the last six years, my knowledge and passion have continued to grow, and I welcome this opportunity to further develop my skills and pass them on.”
Reflecting the interconnected nature of Appalachian lifeways, the apprenticeship also encompasses traditional instrument making. “I have been building stringed folk instruments for eight years,” Charlotte explains. “I grew up hearing stories about my great-uncle Booger John, who built a banjo from an old stump in the backyard, a pan from the kitchen, and screen-door wire, and everyone said it ‘sounded pretty good.’ That story always inspired me. When I was around ten years old, I visited the Appalachian Museum and was transfixed by the rooms filled with hand-built instruments on display. I vowed to build one myself but didn’t get around to it until I was in my mid-thirties. Over the past four years, I have been teaching youth classes on building and playing traditional folk instruments, as well as the history behind them.”
“Wholesome foods nourish the body and music feeds the soul,” she continues. “That is why I want to preserve these traditions. I have realized that the positive ripples created by these two art forms can help youth and adults alike reconnect with their culture and heritage, something we are gradually losing in our modern technological world.”
The apprenticeship will focus on seed saving, gardening, and food preservation. Instruction will include cultivating Moss Ivey beans, candy roaster squash, and corn using the Three Sisters planting method; planting by the signs; and traditional techniques for preserving meat and vegetables. Instruction in instrument making will focus on proper neck carving, scarf-joint construction, and building a traditional tackhead banjo, including fitting a natural skin head. Additional instruction will include improving intonation, crafting handmade bridges, cutting headstocks, and refining traditional techniques used in Appalachian folk instrument construction.
