Although I’ve spent 30 plus years farming and gardening in Appalachia, I don’t consider myself a “local.” You might say I’m spoiled. My grandfather’s farm in Northern Michigan, where I was raised, is both flat and fertile.  West Virginia hillside farming is daunting.  The soils here—like the air, the streams and the people themselves—have been used and abused for 150 years. What little farming that still exists in the rugged northern panhandle is centered around raising hay bales to feed beef cows. Truck farming to produce grains, fruits, and vegetables for human consumption is long gone. Gone too are the 300 plus family owned dairy farms that once graced Marshall Co., West Virginia.  If you’re young and looking for a descent paying job, it’s either time to move or resign yourself to a minimum wage lifestyle. Maybe you’ll get lucky and get hired by…….…you guessed it, King Coal.