Stone Soup Books and WMRA present “Micro Books & Brews” at RVCC! This series is modeled on the original Books & Brews, which is is an author series focused on discussions with writers from our area, hosted by Mary Katharine Froehlich.
Series Dates: Wednesdays August 30, September 27, and October 25.
Wednesday, August 30: Across the Blue Ridge Mountains by M.S. Marangione.
https://www.stonesoupbooks.net/product-page/across-the-blue-ridge-mountains
Across the Blue Ridge Mountains is a deeply researched novel firmly based in history that captures how a woman, regardless of time period, has to live by the fateful decisions she makes and how resilience and showing up to the table are her only ways forward. Through her life’s journey, a stream of characters appear that reflects the best and worst in her but inevitably force her to grow in ways she may not be ready for. Ultimately, her inner strength must rise to meet many challenges.
Early Praise for Across the Blue Ridge Mountains “An ambitious, important, and beautifully written first novel by a gifted new writer. Maggie Marangione deeply knows the Virginia mountain towns she writes of and the hard lives within. In Mary Dodson, she has created a clear voiced, brave, and unforgettable heroine equal to the myriad challenges she faces. I read this book in blazing gulps, and thought about it for days after I finished the last page”-Tom Barbash, author of The Dakota Winters
“Across the Blue Ridge Mountains paints a picture of the life and times in the Blue Ridge Mountains just before the coming of Shenandoah National Park like no other book I’ve read. It transports me there with accurate details in an immersive saga.”-Sue Eisenfeld, author of Shenandoah: A Story of Conservation and Betrayal
About the Author:
M.S. Marangione fell in love with the Blue Ridge Mountains when in her early twenties and moved to Virginia from New York. One evening, when at the Alexandria Public Library in Northern Virginia, she came across a display on Shenandoah National Park with photos of the mountain families and books like Hollow Folk, the Undying Past of Shenandoah National Park, Recollections; The People of the Blue Ridge Remember. At that time, the mid-1980s, these were the only books published, and Hollow Folk was highly biased. Yet, it lit a fire in her to discover more about the people and families of the Shenandoah National Park.
When Marangione moved to the Shenandoah Valley, leaving her intelligence analyst career and becoming a teacher, she dived into the research and spent many hours locating the old homesites on the SNP. After presenting at many academic conferences on the subject, one winter’s morning, Mary’s voice emerged and Marangione started writing Across the Blue Ridge Mountains.
M.S. Marangione is a Professor of American and Appalachian Literature at Blue Ridge Community College. Her poetry has been published in Lumina magazine, Sagewoman, and the North Shore Woman’s Newspaper.
Wednesday, September 27: Hiking & Traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway by Leonard M. Adkins
This comprehensive guidebook provides a detailed description of every official National Park Service trail along the Blue Ridge Parkway. But that’s just the beginning: veteran hiker Leonard M. Adkins includes information on every trail that touches the parkway, including the Appalachian Trail and other public pathways on national park, state park, national forest, municipal, and private lands, along with citations for the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Far more than a guide to the trails, this book will help you plan your whole trip. It’s the perfect companion for your next parkway adventure.
Wednesday, October 25: Energetic Herbalism by Kat Maier
https://www.stonesoupbooks.net/product-page/energetic-herbalism
In this indispensable new resource both for the home apothecary and clinical practitioners, a celebrated herbalist brings alive the elemental relationships among traditional healing practices, ecological stewardship, and essential plant medicines.
By honoring ancient wisdom and presenting it in an innovative way, Energetic Herbalism is a profound and practical guide to family and community care for those seeking to move beyond symptom relief and into a truly holistic framework of health. Throughout, author Kat Maier invites readers to explore their personal relationships with plants and their environs as they discover diverse models of healing.
Inside Energetic Herbalism, you’ll find:
- The elements and patterns of Ayurvedic doshas for greater self-awareness as well as positive lifestyle choices
- A deep appreciation of the wisdom of indigenous peoples, which is the foundation of sacred plant traditions
- The relationship of well-being to the seasons through the brilliant lens of Chinese Five Element Theory, and how our emotional health is beautifully expressed through the Elements
- The roots and evolution of Vitalism, the traditional Western system of energetic medicine
- How to assess imbalances in the body using the elegant and intuitive vocabulary of the six tissue states, an emerging tool in Western herbalism
- The senses as the main tools for navigating through energetic herbalism
Through the rich herbal tradition of storytelling, Maier seamlessly blends theory and practice with her experience-tested herbal remedies and healing protocols. Maier stresses the critical message of how to address the challenge of threatened medicinal plant populations, offering practical and inspiriting methods for ensuring their survival. Many herbals boast a materia medica of more than 100 herbs, but in keeping with an emphasis on sustainable practice, Maier instead focuses in depth on 25 essential medicinal herbs that can be grown in most temperate climates and soils, including:
- Dandelion
- Ashwagandha (Indian Ginseng)
- Goldenseal
- Burdock
- Calendula
- Echinacea
- Goldenrod
Whether you are a seasoned clinical herbalist, an herbalist-in-training, or simply someone seeking to provide the best natural health care for your family, this book is a source of inspiration, insight, and answers you will return to again and again.
About the Author:
Kat Maier RH, (AHG) is the founder and director of Sacred Plant Traditions, a center for herbal studies in Charlottesville, Virginia. In clinical practice for over 30 years, Kat teaches internationally at universities, conferences, and herbal schools. She began her study of plants as a Peace Corps volunteer, and her training as a Physician’s Assistant allows her to weave the language of biomedicine into her practice of traditional energetic herbalism. She is a founding member of Botanica Mobile Clinic, a nonprofit dedicated to providing accessible herbal medicine to local communities, and has served as president of United Plant Savers. She is the author of Energetic Herbalism (Chelsea Green, November 2021).
RVCC’s Micro Books & Brews series is sponsored by Bevin Cetta Boisvert & Howard Hanna Real Estate Services.
