Thanks to ExpressVPN for sponsoring this video. Go to expressvpn.com/xiaomanyc and find out how you can get 3 months of ExpressVPN free! What other interesting parts of America do I need to visit?
I recognize your tour guy/ friend. He was in Davidsbeenhere tour of Appalachia videos he’s been releasing lately. Funny how you both released your Appalachia videos around the same time.
Netflix recognizes you're using vpn, doesn't help with getting the content you're restricted from seeing in your country... If you want anime, crunchyroll is your place.
I'm from the UK and "pig in a poke" is a phrase we're aware of due to our proximity of France. It's from "poque" and it's also why we say "pocket" (poquette) meaning small bag.
@@4pThorpy those are your kin bro... they are talking about Lord Kelvin British mathematician. The kelvinator The kelvin is the base unit for temperature in the International System of Units. The Kelvin scale is an absolute temperature scale that starts at the lowest possible temperature, taken to be 0 K.
This is great! I am the guy selling my honey at the Wytheville Farmers Market. Totally blown away that day and did not quite believe who he was at first. No one believed me that he had stopped by except for the picture his friend took of us, and now this video. Xiaomanyc - If you read this, I'll send you some of that honey you sampled as a gift. Thanks for making my day!
@@Renegade15 Haha, I am pretty transparant and it probably showed my surprise quite well. Everyine has got to have something like this at least once in their life.
Literally every TH-camr in Appalachia: “It wound up being not what I expected, mostly good, some drug problems, super nice people, relaxing and laid back, interesting history, I’d totally come back.”
People hear that an area is poor and automatically assume that means every single person that lives there's is homeless drug addict. Most of the time It just means it's a small town without much opportunity. I live in allagany NY one of the poorest counties, the dirty AC. it's literally just like anything other county, there's the good and there's the ugly
@@matthewadkins7973 Damn near person who visits the South, I'd reckon. Southern hospitality is real and deeply ingrained in the culture. I realized that pretty damn quick when some grandpa in a NASCAR shirt who we randomly met at some small down Tennessee BBQ / BINGO parlor welcomed my whole damn family of 5 to go bass fishing on his boat the next day when he realized we were tourists, genuinely interested in exploring small town communities and the nature that surrounds them. Appalachia is the place. I love the people, the culture, the nature, and the food.
😊😊you’re in luck I got one😊😊 had a very tough season this year so not a lot of content from this season but there’s a lot from the other seasons. I started growing like this in 2021 and my TH-cam channel so there’s lots of content!! Hope you enjoy it and thank you so much 😊
Need your you tube gardening sight , dude you rock! Im from Canada and have been to virginia, South west Etc, its so beautiful there Its to me like a second home
@@jamesbutton7210 thank you 😊 yes it’s so pretty here, I’ve never been to Canada but have several friends there!! I have been to Alaska though and that was nice!! There is a lot of videos posted here on how I grow and what all I grow if you want to check it out!!😊😊
@@heavenlyhillshomestead9465ooooh, new subscriber here too. Your strawberries look like some kind of alpine strawberry to me, do they have a variety name? I’m on a quest for the perfect strawberry 😂
As a Californian, my first introduction to the region was as a hiker on the Appalachian trail at age 25. At the time I'd just gotten sober and needed some time and space to heal. Between the beautiful mountains and the kindness of the people there, I can proudly say they are largely responsible for my success in reaching the other side, and maintaining my sobriety 8 years later.
I’m so happy you made it to the other side! Hard work but I bet you feel so much better. I am behind you with 7. Wishing you good times on your journey through life. ☮️💜
"Thorny's a great friend of mine. I value him in my life, i've learned a lot from him." - great to see men speaking openly about how they love their man friends!
Being a linguistics expert has to be one of the most beneficial social things anyone can learn. You will make friends instantly when you can speak their foreign language. Awesome.
I love ljnguistics, and actually had a college class that was probably the best class ever. Yes, I know how to speak Appalachian as I was born in WV. I grew up in a big city, and yet heard sayings and speech patterns all around me. In so many places, Old English still exists or variations of it, as many people here live in the same area as their ancestors. We ( I'm just as guilty,) run our words together: When I was little, I heard "thissmorning," and not two words. There are many other examples. I would become a teacher in my state, and it was hard to quit running words together. Also, Appalachian speech is spoken in a fast manner with leaving off the endings of words that end in ING. Instead of saying "going," " goin" is said and/ or heard. I well remember meeting a new neighbor a long while back: She was from New York. Within a month or so, she told me she couldn't understand our speech and my thought was "I have a hard time with yours as you put an R on the ends of words," but I didn't say it out loud. Having lived here all of my life, the conclusion is you will never find more caring people ever. Have I traveled elsewhere? Yes. West Virginia is a melting pot of people with Scottish and Irish ancestors--- i know as many of mine were. I find it sad that Appalachian speech is disappearing, even if my mom corrected my grammar a gazillion times.
Made me think of the movie "Arrival". We'd have to commission the Earth's top linguistics experts if intelligent, diplomatic aliens ever came to our planet. A misunderstanding could spell our destruction.
6:49 - I have tomato envy. That slice between two pieces of cheap white bread and some mayo and salt and have to stand over the kitchen sink to eat it...that is summer right there.
@@johnnicastro5931the tomatoes weren’t that great this year in nj. I get tomatoes at farms and they were not great. Not very sweet. His tomato looked amazing. And I was thinking about tomato sandwiches also.
Native WVian here, and I love that you came around to this area to experience what life is like! My only issue was the guy saying that environmentalists are what crushed the coal industry - in fact it was major out-of-state corporations buying out rights to the coal mines and machines replacing workers. At its height, the WV coal industry had something like 100k workers, and as of the last time I did research on it, we had about 12,000 coal industry workers still employed. All that said, I really enjoyed seeing a video that took place so close to home and love your content!
Pearl S Buck is from West Virginia. She spoke fluent Mandarin and won a Pulitzer Prize and a Nobel prize for literature. She is my hero and her foundation is my favorite charity.
It was also a treat to see him speaking to the Chinese restaurant owners on the reservation as well, and taught them how to say "hello" in the indigenous language! Love seeing languages bring people together instead of pulling them apart 😊
This is the USA that media doesn't show us. Encountering small places and places that are called "poor" are the most heartwarming and the best. It's not about the money and tall skyscrapers but the culture that has been preserved. The scene with the homesteader felt like a "breeze of Balkan". Greetings from Croatia!
I'm from Roanoke, Virginia where he landed. I miss it! The first home I remember. Like a man said in the video, I'd never want to live anywhere else! I speak some languages.
Kelvinator was an actual refrigerator brand name credited with the first electric fridge. You don't hear many people use "kalvinator" anymore because those people have since passed. My grandparents used the word all the time. You went to get a drink from the "kalvinator" not the fridge. I miss those days smh.
These “poor” people likely live on inherited land without house payments or rent. Most are likely not having to worry about the debt the rest of us are and I envy them! For sure not like the media portrays. My husband and I are selling our house right now so we can buy property here in Tennessee, USA and live in a tiny home so we can get out of debt and become more self sufficient. I definitely see this way of life differently than I did when I was younger.
@@MarkBH70 I’m from Pulaski, an hour SW of Roanoke, but my mom’s family is from Roanoke and my mom’s in Salem now. I moved away after high school swearing never to return, but then your family gets old and you gatta look after them… and now I’m right back where I started. You just may end up here again one day too 😂 ❤
@@mbarrett99not much you can say to that!! But I have been all around the world and in Iraq seen two camels hump and there’s no where I’d rather be then here!!😊😊
THANK YOU FOR PRONOUNING IT CORRECTLY!! My Family is from the Allegheny Mountains, a branch of the Appalachias , in Pennsyvania. We are proud of our heritage - our food, our language, our stories -- there is nothing like it. Thank you for doing us right in this video
Hey I’m the half-breed in the last half of this video. We had no idea who you were until the person in the spot next to us came over and told us after you left. It was real cool talking to you and I’m glad our conversation made into your video hope you had fun learning more about us from Appalachia. Just a slight correction at the end it says “you had a yankee for a nanny” she didn’t actually say nanny she said daddy because my dads from Pennsylvania which is why I’m a half breed super fun video though.
My daddy is from Ohio originally, I used to pick on him and call him a Yankee. My husband calls me a Yankee because I'm from the VA/KY/WVA intersection area, and he's from farther south (Florida). Hey, I've been through Bluefield a thousand times.
@@notsorry3631 lol That's funny. I grew up in MD but have lived in VA for most of my life, and most of the people I know consider south Floridians to be Yankees because of all the northerners who move down there to get away from the cold.
I feel your pain. Growing up in Tennessee, we were told "Just Because A Cat Has Her Kittens In The Oven Doesn't Make Them Biscuits". Still love them the same.
Canadian here. Thank you for this. I did a solo road trip across America 15 years ago after a tough break-up, and your video re-kindled the warmth I felt from the folks in the south.
Dang it! I was visiting my aunt and uncle in Christiansburg VA recently. I had one extra day between there and visiting a friend near DC, so I went to Shenandoah cuz it was kind of on the way. But I wish I would have gone here instead even it took me the opposite direction. Next time for sure!😊
Most people are impressed with your intelligence and ability to pick up languages so quickly, I'm also impressed by this but more impressed with your humanity. Keep up the good work Ari!
Thank you so much for addressing the horrible stereotypes these kind and caring people are subjected to. Racism is alive people, and no one race is excluded from it.
I’m from Sweden and i’ve never been to the US but Appalachia really made an impression on me and everyone feel so warm and kind. Maybe i feel like this because i’m from a small country, but i have to visit some day
I hope you get to visit the US sometime 😃 Stop through Minnesota too and meet some of your distant cousins (or Andersonville in my hometown of Chicago). Sweden is near the top of my list for the next time I go across the pond, such fascinating history
@@Bryan-b1r2i Yeah it is funny as you mentioned that because it turns out i have a lot of distant relatives in the US. It is on my bucketlist for sure. Oh and please come and visit us here too 😊
The constant grimace during the side by side ride was cracking me up 😂. I can speak from experience it's a bumpy ride through those Appalachian back roads. Thank you for visiting my home region, I hope you enjoyed it! Beautiful place and beautiful people.
As a born and bred West Virginian, thank you for showing real people and not searching out the negative stereotypes. As with anywhere else, we have our struggles, but we are kind and loving people, not the uneducated and inbred folks that many youtubers will seek out and take advantage of for views.
Ive never understood the hate. I grew up around DC/MD/VA most of my life but have been out to WVU often and always enjoyed passing through the different towns and I love it. Some of the most beautiful country out there and most people are really friendly. WVU def knew how to party back in the day too 😆 Great caving/camping/hiking trails out there too!
I'm a big fan of the the song where that's pulled from "Tennessee Ernie Ford - 16 Tons". My grandfathers were miners during the 20s and 30s (Glen Rogers, WV).
@@twodigitscout9800 Sixteen Tons was written by Merle Travis, and personally I prefer his recording of it. I'm from Nova Scotia myself. Not from a mining background, but I have ancestors in Glace Bay and Sydney Mines. We have our own song called Coal Town Road.
Thank you so much for coming to West Virginia & showing what life is actually like "out in these sticks". I am from WV and hate when people talk down on us. This made my Appalachian heart smile 💙💛
It seems a little strange today, however the Appalachian culture and dialects are heavily rooted in Scotland, Ireland, and Germany. Between 1720 and 1760 a massive amount of Scottish and Irish settled there because of economic issues and religious freedom (they were mostly Presbyterians which were getting pushed into lower and lower status by the rise of the Catholic church wanting to become the dominant form of Christianity). They found the terrain, climate, and the land very apt to their knowledge and skills. Which is also interesting as the Scottish Highlands and the Appalachian Mountains were both formed at the same time along opposite ends (the north-east and south-west ends) of the same lines when the continents split apart. The concept of family clans occupying particular regions was natural to the Scotts-Irish.
doing a PhD on the Scots-Irish Presbyterians mixing with Palatinate German Anabaptists and Swabian German Lutherans in the northeast Georgia Appalachians and how that ended up with Appalachian holiness and mountain baptist nowadays. Absolutely love the history and culture
Our dialect is also the closest American speech patterns to Elizabethan English. Researchers found out reading Shakespeare with Appalachian intonation, pronunciation and lilt that they could actually make his rhyme schemes work better than in SAE.
I am DROOLING over that beefsteak mater!!! So incredibly impressive, man. This episode, the homesteader, the people, the culture, reading the comments in here from the man at the market (selling honey)… it’s all just so Americana and beautiful. Great episode, Xiao! ETA: I’m gonna need mamaw’s biscuits and gravy recipe! 🙌🏻
I love this video, I live in Appalachia but in the southern part of Ohio and it's so interesting to see an outside perspective on things we do around these parts on a daily basis. I love that this channel explores all cultures, no matter how big or small, keep up the amazing work as always!
I grew up outside of Roanoke in Appalachia and I went to school in NYC and LA but in the end found myself back home because nothing has life like Appalachia does. Im so proud of where I am from and thank you for appreciating it
I grew up in Roanoke and went to school in Blacksburg. I live in NC now and don't know if I would ever want to move back to Roanoke, but the whole region definitely holds a special place in my heart
Thank you so much for sharing the beauty of my home. My ancestry goes back into those hollers and hills all the way back to the mid 1700's. I have since moved away and I don't hear people like me anymore. And I miss it and think about it every single day. My mama says that's my ancestors calling me home for a visit. ❤
I'm in California now. And old. I wanna go home so bad!! I came out of that dirt and wanna go back to it. It's gonna be awhile now before I can go back. People need to rebuild and find their spot again....
@@allywolf9182 I understand. There is a famous quote by an old Kentucky congressman named Happy Chandler." I never met a Kentuckian who wasn't either thinking about going home or actually going home." And that has stayed with me since I left them hills. ❤️
We left for the brighter lights. And as we get older we realize the brightest lights were those we saw on those summer nights burning in the sky to the soothing call and response echoes of katydids in the forests, and the blinking of the fireflies in the canopy.
That lonesome longing never goes away, does it? It’s so amazing how it is woven into a person’s soul. I feel this way about Appalachia and also Switzerland. Those ancestral ties are always pulling me back, always longing for home. 🏠❤️
I'm so glad you made this video!! Appalachia is my home and people try to paint our region as this backwards, alt-right state full of hicks and hillbillies but the culture is so rich and the land is so vibrant.
As a foreigner myself I find these so called “backwards, alt-right state full of hicks and hillbillies” way more interesting than popular big multicultural cities like New York or Los Angeles for example. I hope I’ll get the chance to visit places like this someday.
OMG! You were in Roanoke! Sad I didn't see you around. I am a city planner downtown - I really appreciate you coming and bringing awareness to this region.
as someone from a family that has lived in Tazewell for nearly 200 years (just outside Bluefield) i cannot thank the people like yourself and Peter Santenello enough for shining a light on my hometown and showing the rest of the world how wrong most of the stereotypes about my region are. yes we have all of the same issues with unemployment, homelessness and drug abuse that you'd find in citys like detrioit or seattle but below that surface is a culture of people who just 1 don't want to be bothered 2. love their land very much and 3. love other people very much. yes alot of us dont have alot of money but most all of us have learned money isnt all lifes about and even while surrounded by people at there absolute bottom financially youd be hard pressed to not find someone willing to go through hell or highwater just to help you out a little around here
HEY! I have family from Tazewell, and they came up to Detroit too. I was born in Detroit, but all my ppl are from KY, East TN, and WVA. Some of the best ppl in the world. It’s crazy how I can be so homesick watching this, when I was born in Detroit. Hope you enjoyed it down there! ❤️❤️❤️
I'm from the Ozarks southwest Missouri, we said still say holler it's a low place usually between two hills. We didn't say kelvinator but we did and still do say icebox. Appalachia folk sound just like us. I'm 68 and most of the old way of talking has been schooled out of the younger ones. It still sounds natural to my ear. Don't buy a pig in a poke, a pig in a sack, have a look at it first. I could go on and on. Love to hear it.
So cute watching him eat a tomato out of the garden. If you only have ate tomatoes from the grocery, you would be surprised at how good they are fresh and ripe off the vine. ❤
They’re like a totally different thing! That’s exactly what I thought about the one guy who said he doesn’t like them. I was thinking “he has no idea what a REAL tomato tastes like!”
My son grew tomatoes this year from my seeds that were two or three years old… those were the best tomatoes I’ve had in a long time…. Nothing beats homegrown …
I grew up in Beckley and Bluefield (live in Charleston, WV now) and this video was very surreal for me as someone who has been watching your channel for years. That China Star restaraunt in Beckley I used to go to on a weekly basis, the lady who you spoke with is extremely nice.
I am from Appalachia. I was born here, then lived most of my life in Colorado. Retired now, came back and I can't emphasize how much happier I am here. Thank you for showing that we're just normal, hatd-working, fun loving people. My only problem watching it was the camera lens you used. I kept wishing it was a normal lens. Loved everything else. You amaze me with your ability to speak so many languages.
@gracierose3076 I think he actually does talk to people with his back to them half the time. Most TH-camrs do, it's so fuckin strange and honestly rude and shitty and weird. I like him but that makes me cringe thinking about the reality of that situation.
Master level fricken gardener there. My mom's been doing various kinds of gardener work here in Oregon and working with master gardeners and such. This guy is on a DIFFERENT LEVEL!
As a Native Appalachian I will forever be appreciative and love the connectedness to the land I experienced there as a child even in the 90s/00s. My grandfather was no farmer, but had farmers in my family tree and he always raised a garden. Picking a big fat tomato off the vine and biting into it like an apple with the juice and dirt running down my cheeks is home to me.
As someone who also grows tomatoes, there is no sandwich as tasty as a tomato sandwich with the tomato still warm from the sunshine when it was picked!
I'm originally from West Virginia and seeing this on my feed today has made me so insanely happy c: I'm glad you got to experience some of my home state, showing some of the positive that is often ignored. Seeing a lot of those people and families in your video just reminds me of the small community I grew up in and how much I miss it
Thank you for your graciousness and interest in my home state!!! Although I've left 40 years ago, whenever I went back to visit, I would cry like a baby when I left. The mountains are brreathtaking, the people so warm and kind: it is really another world. So glad that you immersed yourself in the culture wtih a kindness and curiosity that showed the positive.
I live in Bluefield and know Jonathan. It was crazy to see you come to our region. Thanks for showing our home in a more positive light than we are normally betrayed.
Midwestern pseudp-polyglot here. From "holler" you probably already found a general rule, "holler" comes from "hollow," like Sleepy Hollow. As they said, a hollow is a secluded sort of glade in the forest. Another word that follows the pattern is "waller," from "wallow," as in, to "waller in pity." I never thought twice about it till someone called me out on it being improper, haha. Love your videos, your ability to connect with people makes me want to keep learning.
I met an old man at a gas station in the blue ridge range last 4/20 that was telling me the insane quantity of flower he was growing in his greenhouse up on the ridge. Wish I got a tour
Same, I'm in Caswell, county of less than 19000, in the only real town-- only 1700 residents. I have kin all up in Wytheville, VA and Logan and Chapmanville, WV. So close to home for me!
Your face in the side by side while those dudes were speaking so casually was hilarious! I love any TH-cam video that shows off the positive parts of Appalachia
@@xAshlyy is he not doing that? He seems super different no, i havent seen his vids in years but he seems.. empty. (I trust your opinion cuz i see ur an OTK / twitch fan as well)
@@elijah1110 He isn't. The lens is crazy wide and has distortion. The most I could see happening is the China videos being a little censored and controlled but that's China.
Crazy how amazed this kid is that some guy grows his own produce. Pretty much a common thing once you get out of the big cities. The family garden is what kept much of our country alive during the depression & during the height of WWII.
With all the negativity going around, this was such a breath of fresh air! I’ve been to Arkansas (I highly recommend visiting Petit Jean State Park if you ever get the chance, it’ll take your breath away), eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and other places in the Appalachian Mountains. I’m so happy you showed the Real Side of the wonderful people there: easily the kindest, down-to-earth, “give you the shirt off their back” folks you’ll ever meet. I could go on. And thank you for sharing info on how to help after Hurricane Helene, I’m absolutely donating to the cause, thank you! You are an angel, never let anyone tell you otherwise. With ❤ from The DMV!
Never thought I’d see you in my state. Thank you for shedding some light on the people, and the beauty, of our region. You’re an honorary West Virginian as far as I’m concerned.
I’ve always been intrigued by The Appalachian Mountains, they’re one of the oldest mountain ranges on earth. Your tour guide was THE perfect person. 🙏🏼
Oddly enough, most of my family from New York say that, and I remember growing up making fun of it 😅. But now that I live in Appalachia it really does have a nostalgicness to it when I hear it.
My father says it that way - he was born and raised in Buffalo New York, but his family came to Western New York by way of Massachusetts. I have not heard anyone else in Western New York say it that way. He also has "melk" in his coffee 🤔
My grandfather talked like that. My grandmother was from a sophisticated old family from Charlotte, NC, so not so much. My grandfather grew up on a farm that was in the family for generations so he had all the words.
Howdy from western NC! I’m from McDowell County NC and I grew up in an old house in a mill village across from an old thread mill, all of the houses on the 7 streets around me looked the same because they were all built from the sears catalog over 100 years ago (with coal burning fireplaces no less). Awesome video.
As a born and bred Mountaineer (West Virginian), I'm very proud of our history and traditions. I've lived in Annapolis, Maryland and Louden County, Virginia...but ive always returned home. Live by the adage, 'you take the boy from the mountains, but you can never take the mountains from the boy!!' It's truly Wild and Wonderful & Almost Heaven!!
You guys call yourselves mountaineers? Out here (in the real mountain states) out West, a mountaineer is someone who does technical ascents of mountain peaks. Maybe we should call ourselves that too though!
The garden in this video is EVERYTHING ❤❤❤❤❤ If I had the opportunity to physically be in that garden I don't believe I would ever leave. It was beyond magnificent ❤❤❤❤
Haven’t seen your videos in a long time dude. Life got real busy for me. That being said. I am so happy to see that you are at a healthy weight. Excellent job Xioma. Health is wealth brother.
I am really impressed. I think you should do more of these Appalachia stories. Honestly, I was blown away. My whole life I associated the name Appalachia with extreme poverty or the famous trail. I am happy to see how lovely it is and how kind the people are. I absolutely loved the farm. So, please, more, more 👏👏👏👏
If you want to see what life in the coal towns was really like back in the day, then watch the movie "Matewan." Yes, the company store sold the workers everything they needed, but prices were much higher than in non-company stores, which miners couldn't shop at because they didn't accept scrip. The mines exploited the feces out of the workers and it occasionally led to violence.
Indeed!! My maternal great-grandfather (Charles Troy 'CT' Higgins) was one of the 7 Baldwin-Felts Detective Agents killed in the Matwan Massacre. My paternal great-grandfather and grandfather were Above Ground Mine Foreman at the Weyanoke Coal and Coke Camp in northern Mercer County. My father worked one year in the mines in Mercer Co., then entered WWII and he fought in the South Pacific Campaign in the US Army Air Force. After returning, he worked 38 years as a Class A Transmission Lineman for Appalachian Power Company. Started in Bluefield/Princeton, then transferred to Kanawha County in 1956. I was born in South Charleston in '64. As a born and bred Mountaineer, I'm very proud of my state and our history.
@samanthab1923 in the late 1800's/early 1900's the robber barons controlled everything and blacking wasn't completely understood. People just wanted the American Dream by making a living wage. However, the mine owners were businessmen from New York City that could care less!! Much like today's Democrat involved Billionaires. They just want control over everything, including YOU. They hate the US Constitution and Bill of Rights!!
Most people don't realize that we (in Appalachia) have many many different accents and variations of them, and they can sometimes be distinct between even small towns close together. It's not all the same standard "Alabama drawl" that people seem to think it is. Youns come down see us and you'll see drectly. 😀
Dont take the word Yankee personal. It just means she can tell youre not from around the south. Its not antagonistic unless they use it in an antagonistic way.
That's right. Yankee isn't meant unkind. And to most people in the South if you're from anywhere else, you're a Yankee. Most Southerners like Yankees coming down now. When I was younger, they didn't always.
I'm an Appalachian from eastern Kentucky. I think we have it pretty damn good here, myself. I could not possibly imagine living anywhere else. I love the way of life here, the people, and the natural paradise I'm lucky enough to spend my life in. Sometimes we forget how good we actually DO have it here. I appreciate the reminder.
And I as a two-plus decade resident from Roanoke feel the same as you do. I giggled when he said he’d flown into Roanoke as if it were going to be some backwoods Appalachian town! Originally from NY having worked in NYC and Bklyn all those years ago, moving here was the best change of life. I have assimilated well! Roanoke has so much to offer so come on back anytime!!
Seems like a great place to live, until a bunch of out of staters move in , pockets full of money and bring with them their old habits and way of life they were trying to get away from!! My hometown was much better 50-60 years ago, but I guess it depends on what individuals Much Better is ? Assimilation seems better than coming in and trying to change everything , eventually ending up with the old life, taxes and government they originally left ! That’s a very nice town yall live in !! Nothing grows good here except tumble weeds , especially if we get any rain! Watched many of your great videos!!
"Poke" is used in Scotland for a small paper bag. We would go to the store and get a 2oz poke of sweeties as a treat. Sweeties are candies in the U.S. A lot of the words I assume that are used in Appalachia come from a mix of Scottish, English and other European languages and dialects.
Was about to comment similar when I read your post. Poke o sweets or a poke o chips (French fries) being the most common. Paper pokes and plastic pokes etc etc.
@@cynthiaeller813 and lots of those immigrants came in the late 1600 to early 1700's when English was very different from how it is spoken now!! I loved this video!
I’ve watched your videos for a long time and this one was great. Always be facilitated with all the languages you speak but to see you come to an area live I live in and interact was awesome.
As someone who is from Roanoke VA and a frequent viewer of the channel I’m SOOO happy that you came to my town and put it on you channel. Just wish I could have bought you a beer.
I super want to go to W. Virginia! I want to bathe in the vibe of the Appalachian mountains, the great Smokey mountains, etc. What a beautiful state with friendly, gracious people.
listening to you talk with the family about the region genuinely made me feel like i was at dinner with my grandparents 🥹 thank you for bringing some much-needed positive light to this area !
Aww, this makes me miss my dad. He was from just outside Charleston, WV. We stayed at my grandparents' house many summers. They lived high up in the mountains in Kanawha County. It was so much fun and the mountains are just beautiful. My grandpa was a coal miner, and so was my great-grandfather. Thanks for visiting West Virginia and bringing back so many good memories.
Thanks to ExpressVPN for sponsoring this video. Go to expressvpn.com/xiaomanyc and find out how you can get 3 months of ExpressVPN free! What other interesting parts of America do I need to visit?
I recognize your tour guy/ friend. He was in Davidsbeenhere tour of Appalachia videos he’s been releasing lately. Funny how you both released your Appalachia videos around the same time.
Netflix recognizes you're using vpn, doesn't help with getting the content you're restricted from seeing in your country... If you want anime, crunchyroll is your place.
Akron's watching
👁👁
I'm from the UK and "pig in a poke" is a phrase we're aware of due to our proximity of France. It's from "poque" and it's also why we say "pocket" (poquette) meaning small bag.
@@4pThorpy those are your kin bro... they are talking about Lord Kelvin
British mathematician. The kelvinator
The kelvin is the base unit for temperature in the International System of Units. The Kelvin scale is an absolute temperature scale that starts at the lowest possible temperature, taken to be 0 K.
This is great! I am the guy selling my honey at the Wytheville Farmers Market. Totally blown away that day and did not quite believe who he was at first. No one believed me that he had stopped by except for the picture his friend took of us, and now this video. Xiaomanyc - If you read this, I'll send you some of that honey you sampled as a gift. Thanks for making my day!
Loved your reaction. It was heartwarming. 💙
@@limitlessends Yeah, it was truly amazing, especially since I watch him all the time. Good memories!
You kept your cool so much better than I would have.
@@Captain_Robot Haha. It took a while for me to believe he was who he was. Never had anything happen to me like this, so it was super cool!
@@Renegade15 Haha, I am pretty transparant and it probably showed my surprise quite well. Everyine has got to have something like this at least once in their life.
I hope this guy realized that he just came across a master level gardener.........that guy is true farmer
Thank you so much ☺️ I appreciate that, it was fun sharing it with him!!
@@heavenlyhillshomestead9465 I just subscribed to you! You have an incredible garden my friend!
@@heavenlyhillshomestead9465Those tomatoes looked absolutely amazing!! Your garden is beautiful!
@@Studio23Media thank you so much 😊 if you ever have questions feel free to ask or I have lots of videos on growing
I was in awe!
I did not expect to Xiaoma devouring a guy’s entire garden
That tomato looked AMAZING.
I would have too. Dude growing them knew what he was doing.
@@dontfeartheringoit really is
He is a GOAT.
That guy must be protected at all costs
Literally every TH-camr in Appalachia: “It wound up being not what I expected, mostly good, some drug problems, super nice people, relaxing and laid back, interesting history, I’d totally come back.”
❤
that's home the easiest you can explain it! 💖
People hear that an area is poor and automatically assume that means every single person that lives there's is homeless drug addict. Most of the time It just means it's a small town without much opportunity. I live in allagany NY one of the poorest counties, the dirty AC. it's literally just like anything other county, there's the good and there's the ugly
Every TH-camr in the entire south
@@matthewadkins7973 Damn near person who visits the South, I'd reckon. Southern hospitality is real and deeply ingrained in the culture. I realized that pretty damn quick when some grandpa in a NASCAR shirt who we randomly met at some small down Tennessee BBQ / BINGO parlor welcomed my whole damn family of 5 to go bass fishing on his boat the next day when he realized we were tourists, genuinely interested in exploring small town communities and the nature that surrounds them. Appalachia is the place. I love the people, the culture, the nature, and the food.
If that gardener had a youtube channel I'd watch all day long
😊😊you’re in luck I got one😊😊 had a very tough season this year so not a lot of content from this season but there’s a lot from the other seasons. I started growing like this in 2021 and my TH-cam channel so there’s lots of content!! Hope you enjoy it and thank you so much 😊
Need your you tube gardening sight , dude you rock!
Im from Canada and have been to virginia, South west
Etc, its so beautiful there
Its to me like a second home
@@jamesbutton7210 thank you 😊 yes it’s so pretty here, I’ve never been to Canada but have several friends there!! I have been to Alaska though and that was nice!! There is a lot of videos posted here on how I grow and what all I grow if you want to check it out!!😊😊
@@heavenlyhillshomestead9465Im going there now!
@@heavenlyhillshomestead9465ooooh, new subscriber here too. Your strawberries look like some kind of alpine strawberry to me, do they have a variety name? I’m on a quest for the perfect strawberry 😂
As a Californian, my first introduction to the region was as a hiker on the Appalachian trail at age 25. At the time I'd just gotten sober and needed some time and space to heal. Between the beautiful mountains and the kindness of the people there, I can proudly say they are largely responsible for my success in reaching the other side, and maintaining my sobriety 8 years later.
Congrats! That’s difficult to do.
High praise
Lots of Californians moving to Appalachia. The problem is they vote for the same left wing policies that messed up California 🤡🤡🤡
I’m so happy you made it to the other side! Hard work but I bet you feel so much better. I am behind you with 7. Wishing you good times on your journey through life. ☮️💜
@@cripplecreekqueen yes much more on offer on this side of the fence. Good on you as well!
"Thorny's a great friend of mine. I value him in my life, i've learned a lot from him." - great to see men speaking openly about how they love their man friends!
I agree.
That's what real men do. Always have.
Yup, respect. - "It's not a party unless somebody's bleeding...", had me rollin'
Saying this is a good way to get them to stop
@@PastLifeVillian thats exactly what i was thinking XD
7:13 there is nothing more kind than feeding another human being and look at how proud he is to share with others. Nothing but admiration.
❤❤thank you so much 😊I really enjoyed sharing it with him and I love sharing what I do with everyone!!
Being a linguistics expert has to be one of the most beneficial social things anyone can learn. You will make friends instantly when you can speak their foreign language. Awesome.
that, and being a good cook like Anthony Bourdain.
I love ljnguistics, and actually had a college class that was probably the best class ever. Yes, I know how to speak Appalachian as I was born in WV. I grew up in a big city, and yet heard sayings and speech patterns all around me. In so many places, Old English still exists or variations of it, as many people here live in the same area as their ancestors. We ( I'm just as guilty,) run our words together: When I was little, I heard "thissmorning," and not two words. There are many other examples. I would become a teacher in my state, and it was hard to quit running words together. Also, Appalachian speech is spoken in a fast manner with leaving off the endings of words that end in ING. Instead of saying "going," " goin" is said and/ or heard. I well remember meeting a new neighbor a long while back: She was from New York. Within a month or so, she told me she couldn't understand our speech and my thought was "I have a hard time with yours as you put an R on the ends of words," but I didn't say it out loud. Having lived here all of my life, the conclusion is you will never find more caring people ever. Have I traveled elsewhere? Yes. West Virginia is a melting pot of people with Scottish and Irish ancestors--- i know as many of mine were. I find it sad that Appalachian speech is disappearing, even if my mom corrected my grammar a gazillion times.
"Their foreign language" is an impossible statement.
@@rickyrunks510you know what they mean
Made me think of the movie "Arrival". We'd have to commission the Earth's top linguistics experts if intelligent, diplomatic aliens ever came to our planet. A misunderstanding could spell our destruction.
6:49 - I have tomato envy. That slice between two pieces of cheap white bread and some mayo and salt and have to stand over the kitchen sink to eat it...that is summer right there.
We did that all the time during summer in New Jersey when I was a kid
Ok Dukes and it’s chefs kiss
@@johnnicastro5931the tomatoes weren’t that great this year in nj. I get tomatoes at farms and they were not great. Not very sweet. His tomato looked amazing. And I was thinking about tomato sandwiches also.
Yaaaaaaasssss!
Don't forget the black pepper!
Appalachian here. Honored you came to the region. People want to hate on “hillbillies” but there’s nothing I’d rather be.
❤❤facts me too!!
We’re all Americans in the end
My friend likes to say, I'm a hillbilly not a redneck, there's a difference. Lol.
Born and raised in Portland, and there’s nowhere I would rather be, either. This place sucks.
I’m an Appalachian woman and I’m a proud hillbilly from West Virginia. Some people may see it as derogatory but I wear it like a badge of honor.
Native WVian here, and I love that you came around to this area to experience what life is like! My only issue was the guy saying that environmentalists are what crushed the coal industry - in fact it was major out-of-state corporations buying out rights to the coal mines and machines replacing workers. At its height, the WV coal industry had something like 100k workers, and as of the last time I did research on it, we had about 12,000 coal industry workers still employed.
All that said, I really enjoyed seeing a video that took place so close to home and love your content!
There's something extra special about the Chinese interaction in Appalachia. What a treat
Fr you can tell it really made their day
Pearl S Buck is from West Virginia. She spoke fluent Mandarin and won a Pulitzer Prize and a Nobel prize for literature. She is my hero and her foundation is my favorite charity.
Just more proof America is the greatest country on Earth!
It was also a treat to see him speaking to the Chinese restaurant owners on the reservation as well, and taught them how to say "hello" in the indigenous language! Love seeing languages bring people together instead of pulling them apart 😊
@@ChuckmantisAs your fellow American, please stop 😂 It's a great country but chill
This is the USA that media doesn't show us. Encountering small places and places that are called "poor" are the most heartwarming and the best. It's not about the money and tall skyscrapers but the culture that has been preserved. The scene with the homesteader felt like a "breeze of Balkan".
Greetings from Croatia!
The American Left despises them, however.
I'm from Roanoke, Virginia where he landed. I miss it! The first home I remember. Like a man said in the video, I'd never want to live anywhere else! I speak some languages.
Kelvinator was an actual refrigerator brand name credited with the first electric fridge. You don't hear many people use "kalvinator" anymore because those people have since passed. My grandparents used the word all the time. You went to get a drink from the "kalvinator" not the fridge. I miss those days smh.
These “poor” people likely live on inherited land without house payments or rent. Most are likely not having to worry about the debt the rest of us are and I envy them! For sure not like the media portrays. My husband and I are selling our house right now so we can buy property here in Tennessee, USA and live in a tiny home so we can get out of debt and become more self sufficient. I definitely see this way of life differently than I did when I was younger.
@@MarkBH70 I’m from Pulaski, an hour SW of Roanoke, but my mom’s family is from Roanoke and my mom’s in Salem now. I moved away after high school swearing never to return, but then your family gets old and you gatta look after them… and now I’m right back where I started. You just may end up here again one day too 😂 ❤
Dude - "been all over the world, seen camels screw. Aint nowhere id rather be than here"
Xiaoma - no reaction
What do you say to that.
@@mbarrett99Rural folks crack a lot of jokes regardless if anyone laughs. They’re fun people
@@thedankpanda8995facts 😂😂
@@mbarrett99not much you can say to that!! But I have been all around the world and in Iraq seen two camels hump and there’s no where I’d rather be then here!!😊😊
😂😂😂 it’s true though so true!!
THANK YOU FOR PRONOUNING IT CORRECTLY!! My Family is from the Allegheny Mountains, a branch of the Appalachias , in Pennsyvania. We are proud of our heritage - our food, our language, our stories -- there is nothing like it. Thank you for doing us right in this video
Hey I’m the half-breed in the last half of this video. We had no idea who you were until the person in the spot next to us came over and told us after you left. It was real cool talking to you and I’m glad our conversation made into your video hope you had fun learning more about us from Appalachia. Just a slight correction at the end it says “you had a yankee for a nanny” she didn’t actually say nanny she said daddy because my dads from Pennsylvania which is why I’m a half breed super fun video though.
My daddy is from Ohio originally, I used to pick on him and call him a Yankee. My husband calls me a Yankee because I'm from the VA/KY/WVA intersection area, and he's from farther south (Florida).
Hey, I've been through Bluefield a thousand times.
Appalachia is beautiful
@@notsorry3631 lol That's funny. I grew up in MD but have lived in VA for most of my life, and most of the people I know consider south Floridians to be Yankees because of all the northerners who move down there to get away from the cold.
I feel your pain. Growing up in Tennessee, we were told "Just Because A Cat Has Her Kittens In The Oven Doesn't Make Them Biscuits". Still love them the same.
@@batmanbeyond2864 and xiao the white guy from Brooklyn come to take your stuff in the name of Zionism.
Dude…it NEVER gets old watching you shock chinese people with your languages.
However he did get the Peter santinillo treatment at the mines. Why are there so many of em? Lol
@@Das_Vertso many of ...what?
@@Das_VertSo many of what exactly?
@@NativeVirgodudes i guess? Why are there like 15 dudes showing him that place.
@@khiarapollock8227why are y’all trying to make what op said sound bad?
Canadian here. Thank you for this. I did a solo road trip across America 15 years ago after a tough break-up, and your video re-kindled the warmth I felt from the folks in the south.
That's my sister with the whipped tallow hand cream I make from our Honaker House Farm beef! So neat!
I'm from Princeton ~ I'll have to stop by the Wytheville Farmers Market and get some tallow products! 😃🐮
Dang it! I was visiting my aunt and uncle in Christiansburg VA recently. I had one extra day between there and visiting a friend near DC, so I went to Shenandoah cuz it was kind of on the way.
But I wish I would have gone here instead even it took me the opposite direction. Next time for sure!😊
You’re telling me you cream your beef? That just sounds wrong 😂 I’m just playin, what a cool product to have.
Gorgeous 😅
does she have snapchat?
Very nice garden. The only thing that beats food you grow yourself is sharing it with an appreciative guest.
Most people are impressed with your intelligence and ability to pick up languages so quickly, I'm also impressed by this but more impressed with your humanity. Keep up the good work Ari!
The strength it takes to PUSH yourself into all these social situations. Extreme props to him!
I’m impressed with your openness to trying any food anywhere. Amazing brain, great personality, and an iron stomach!
Agreeing! This dude has heart AND crazy good language skills! ❤ God’s gifts
Thank you so much for addressing the horrible stereotypes these kind and caring people are subjected to. Racism is alive people, and no one race is excluded from it.
Thank you for treating our people with respect.
You all seem like such amazing and wonderful people.
I appreciate the respect also cause I’m just a little barefoot Tennessee girl. Lol
Also that tomato is so beautiful I want to cry
❤❤thank you, I enjoyed sharing it with him
@@heavenlyhillshomestead9465Gotta say I’ve never seen better produce. 👍
@ thank you so much!! 😊 I love growing!!
@@heavenlyhillshomestead9465 Yeah man! It shows. 😁
i agree
I’m from Sweden and i’ve never been to the US but Appalachia really made an impression on me and everyone feel so warm and kind. Maybe i feel like this because i’m from a small country, but i have to visit some day
It's wonderful living here. Please do come visit! It's the best part of the USA!
I love it there! Good food, great people and beautiful!
I hope you get to visit the US sometime 😃 Stop through Minnesota too and meet some of your distant cousins (or Andersonville in my hometown of Chicago). Sweden is near the top of my list for the next time I go across the pond, such fascinating history
@@Bryan-b1r2i Yeah it is funny as you mentioned that because it turns out i have a lot of distant relatives in the US. It is on my bucketlist for sure. Oh and please come and visit us here too 😊
@@michellesmith6558 Yes, it seems people are very down to earth 😃
The farmer fella is one of the most impressive things I’ve ever watched/seen..Much love from a native NW Floridian
❤❤thank you so very much 😊I enjoyed sharing it with him
The constant grimace during the side by side ride was cracking me up 😂. I can speak from experience it's a bumpy ride through those Appalachian back roads. Thank you for visiting my home region, I hope you enjoyed it! Beautiful place and beautiful people.
I was laughing at the same thing! He looked SO uncomfortable!!! 😂
I would have either had a headache, nausea, or both. Would have wanted to get back as soon as humanly possible. It's not for everyone.
The nodding and agreeing during the commute for me 😂😅
I felt bad for him, he looked sooooo uncomfortable
Yesssss😂😂
As a born and bred West Virginian, thank you for showing real people and not searching out the negative stereotypes. As with anywhere else, we have our struggles, but we are kind and loving people, not the uneducated and inbred folks that many youtubers will seek out and take advantage of for views.
So true.
@@thehoundhavenfarm I totally agree, just look how nice them people were
Like the Whittaker family of West Virginia
I'm gald you enjoyed. That was my pitch to him, "Dude let me show you my home and you can show that these poverty porn videos aren't exactly true"
Ive never understood the hate. I grew up around DC/MD/VA most of my life but have been out to WVU often and always enjoyed passing through the different towns and I love it. Some of the most beautiful country out there and most people are really friendly. WVU def knew how to party back in the day too 😆 Great caving/camping/hiking trails out there too!
The term "Sold my soul to the Company Store" is for a reason. It trapped coal workers with the oayment system, which now days is illegal.
I'm a big fan of the the song where that's pulled from "Tennessee Ernie Ford - 16 Tons". My grandfathers were miners during the 20s and 30s (Glen Rogers, WV).
Illegal or not, it still happens today
@@twodigitscout9800 Sixteen Tons was written by Merle Travis, and personally I prefer his recording of it.
I'm from Nova Scotia myself. Not from a mining background, but I have ancestors in Glace Bay and Sydney Mines. We have our own song called Coal Town Road.
What do you think the Welfare system is? It traps people in a system of poverty similar to the Company Store.
Its also where we get the saying "Dont take any wooden nickles" ie dont take any Scrip, that isnt real money
Thank you so much for coming to West Virginia & showing what life is actually like "out in these sticks". I am from WV and hate when people talk down on us. This made my Appalachian heart smile 💙💛
It seems a little strange today, however the Appalachian culture and dialects are heavily rooted in Scotland, Ireland, and Germany. Between 1720 and 1760 a massive amount of Scottish and Irish settled there because of economic issues and religious freedom (they were mostly Presbyterians which were getting pushed into lower and lower status by the rise of the Catholic church wanting to become the dominant form of Christianity). They found the terrain, climate, and the land very apt to their knowledge and skills. Which is also interesting as the Scottish Highlands and the Appalachian Mountains were both formed at the same time along opposite ends (the north-east and south-west ends) of the same lines when the continents split apart. The concept of family clans occupying particular regions was natural to the Scotts-Irish.
The Scotch Irish in me loves your informative comment. ❤ Family from beautiful WV mountains.
doing a PhD on the Scots-Irish Presbyterians mixing with Palatinate German Anabaptists and Swabian German Lutherans in the northeast Georgia Appalachians and how that ended up with Appalachian holiness and mountain baptist nowadays. Absolutely love the history and culture
Our dialect is also the closest American speech patterns to Elizabethan English. Researchers found out reading Shakespeare with Appalachian intonation, pronunciation and lilt that they could actually make his rhyme schemes work better than in SAE.
Hey, don't forget about us, Welch!! We set up homestead here, too!!!! Are there any other Hughes out there!?
@@shellihebert3823 My husband has Hughes in his family line and my ancestors came from Malpas right on the Welsh border.
I am DROOLING over that beefsteak mater!!! So incredibly impressive, man. This episode, the homesteader, the people, the culture, reading the comments in here from the man at the market (selling honey)… it’s all just so Americana and beautiful. Great episode, Xiao!
ETA: I’m gonna need mamaw’s biscuits and gravy recipe! 🙌🏻
Thank you 😊it was a Domingo variety tomato
I'd of paid $7 for that 'mater.
@@betsybarnicle8016 I wish I could get that for them!! People snub their nose at $3 here 😂
@@heavenlyhillshomestead9465 Are you the guy with the garden?
@@Pteromandias yes 😊😊
Native West Virginian here. Very cool to see you do a video there!
Native virgin here I feel you bruh
That's West of where George Washington is from
@@badcornflakes6374 He actually built a house in the county I grew up in too, and so did all his brothers. Back then it was Virginia 🇺🇸
@@buckflowens all American right there
@@badcornflakes6374GW was from Colonial Beach, Va…just NE of Tappahannock.
Glad someone finally showed us they way we are ! Not all slums and drugs! God bless these people and God bless him for doing this video the right way!
It was heartening to see that not everything is in terminal decline.
I love this video, I live in Appalachia but in the southern part of Ohio and it's so interesting to see an outside perspective on things we do around these parts on a daily basis. I love that this channel explores all cultures, no matter how big or small, keep up the amazing work as always!
I grew up outside of Roanoke in Appalachia and I went to school in NYC and LA but in the end found myself back home because nothing has life like Appalachia does. Im so proud of where I am from and thank you for appreciating it
I live an hour outside of Roanoke since 1977. It's beyond beautiful 🥰
I grew up in Roanoke and went to school in Blacksburg. I live in NC now and don't know if I would ever want to move back to Roanoke, but the whole region definitely holds a special place in my heart
My uncle has a pizzeria in Roanoke, New York pizza
Thank you so much for sharing the beauty of my home. My ancestry goes back into those hollers and hills all the way back to the mid 1700's. I have since moved away and I don't hear people like me anymore. And I miss it and think about it every single day. My mama says that's my ancestors calling me home for a visit. ❤
I'm in California now. And old. I wanna go home so bad!! I came out of that dirt and wanna go back to it. It's gonna be awhile now before I can go back. People need to rebuild and find their spot again....
@@allywolf9182 I understand. There is a famous quote by an old Kentucky congressman named Happy Chandler." I never met a Kentuckian who wasn't either thinking about going home or actually going home." And that has stayed with me since I left them hills. ❤️
We left for the brighter lights. And as we get older we realize the brightest lights were those we saw on those summer nights burning in the sky to the soothing call and response echoes of katydids in the forests, and the blinking of the fireflies in the canopy.
That lonesome longing never goes away, does it?
It’s so amazing how it is woven into a person’s soul. I feel this way about Appalachia and also Switzerland. Those ancestral ties are always pulling me back, always longing for home. 🏠❤️
@zaram131 it is in my soul, forever and always. When I say I'm going home I mean Appalachia.
I'm so glad you made this video!! Appalachia is my home and people try to paint our region as this backwards, alt-right state full of hicks and hillbillies but the culture is so rich and the land is so vibrant.
And ppl are starting to realize that they have been lied to…the election is proof of that.
As a foreigner myself I find these so called “backwards, alt-right state full of hicks and hillbillies” way more interesting than popular big multicultural cities like New York or Los Angeles for example.
I hope I’ll get the chance to visit places like this someday.
15:03 the discomfort on his face this entire ride has killed me.🤣
He did not look like he was having a good time
OMG! You were in Roanoke! Sad I didn't see you around. I am a city planner downtown - I really appreciate you coming and bringing awareness to this region.
Have you heard of Curitiba, Brazil? If you do planning...
Do you watch NJB/not just bikes?
I'm from Roanoke, too, but no longer live there. When I saw Appalachia and Wytheville, I knew he was far too close to home for me not to watch.
as someone from a family that has lived in Tazewell for nearly 200 years (just outside Bluefield) i cannot thank the people like yourself and Peter Santenello enough for shining a light on my hometown and showing the rest of the world how wrong most of the stereotypes about my region are. yes we have all of the same issues with unemployment, homelessness and drug abuse that you'd find in citys like detrioit or seattle but below that surface is a culture of people who just 1 don't want to be bothered 2. love their land very much and 3. love other people very much. yes alot of us dont have alot of money but most all of us have learned money isnt all lifes about and even while surrounded by people at there absolute bottom financially youd be hard pressed to not find someone willing to go through hell or highwater just to help you out a little around here
HEY! I have family from Tazewell, and they came up to Detroit too. I was born in Detroit, but all my ppl are from KY, East TN, and WVA. Some of the best ppl in the world. It’s crazy how I can be so homesick watching this, when I was born in Detroit. Hope you enjoyed it down there! ❤️❤️❤️
@@NunyaBus99 I ended up moving east to coastal VA about 10years ago and every now and then I run into someone that’s from the area. Crazy small world
I'm from the Ozarks southwest Missouri, we said still say holler it's a low place usually between two hills. We didn't say kelvinator but we did and still do say icebox. Appalachia folk sound just like us. I'm 68 and most of the old way of talking has been schooled out of the younger ones. It still sounds natural to my ear. Don't buy a pig in a poke, a pig in a sack, have a look at it first. I could go on and on. Love to hear it.
I wish they would not show it at all because I do not want people moving in here!!
There is a branch of my family from Tazewell - the Peery family. Also Evans, Rawlings, Oakes, and Campbell.
Southern hospitality invited into someones home for a fresh cooked meal loved this video shows how down to earth and relaxed southerners actually are.
What a terrific insight into a lovely part of the world. All the best to you all from Ireland.
So cute watching him eat a tomato out of the garden. If you only have ate tomatoes from the grocery, you would be surprised at how good they are fresh and ripe off the vine. ❤
❤❤facts!! 💯% he loved eating those tomatoes while he was here and I enjoyed sharing them!!
They’re like a totally different thing! That’s exactly what I thought about the one guy who said he doesn’t like them. I was thinking “he has no idea what a REAL tomato tastes like!”
@spirals73 yes 🙌
My son grew tomatoes this year from my seeds that were two or three years old… those were the best tomatoes I’ve had in a long time….
Nothing beats homegrown …
I grew up in Beckley and Bluefield (live in Charleston, WV now) and this video was very surreal for me as someone who has been watching your channel for years. That China Star restaraunt in Beckley I used to go to on a weekly basis, the lady who you spoke with is extremely nice.
My family orders from there a good bit, you get the urge to sit in for a buffet when going to Kroger each week. Good food and good people.
East End is the best end!
China Star ain’t got shit on China One in Sophia lol
I am from Appalachia. I was born here, then lived most of my life in Colorado. Retired now, came back and I can't emphasize how much happier I am here. Thank you for showing that we're just normal, hatd-working, fun loving people.
My only problem watching it was the camera lens you used. I kept wishing it was a normal lens. Loved everything else. You amaze me with your ability to speak so many languages.
That lens distorts everything. Makes him look rude with his back to people. I didn't want to say anything!
@gracierose3076 I think he actually does talk to people with his back to them half the time. Most TH-camrs do, it's so fuckin strange and honestly rude and shitty and weird. I like him but that makes me cringe thinking about the reality of that situation.
@WampusWrangler no they don't rofl it's a fish eye lens or 360 camera that's either getting the full 360 degree view or 180 degree.
@@QHalvorson Terrible is what it is.
@@meomy29agree- it’s horrible
Master level fricken gardener there. My mom's been doing various kinds of gardener work here in Oregon and working with master gardeners and such. This guy is on a DIFFERENT LEVEL!
❤❤ thank you so much 😊 it was a lot of fun sharing with him, I love sharing what I do with everyone!!
As a Native Appalachian I will forever be appreciative and love the connectedness to the land I experienced there as a child even in the 90s/00s. My grandfather was no farmer, but had farmers in my family tree and he always raised a garden. Picking a big fat tomato off the vine and biting into it like an apple with the juice and dirt running down my cheeks is home to me.
❤❤that’s a awesome memory!! I love it here and that I got to share it with him!!
I love that but man at 39 it makes even me feel old. Lmao 😅
@@Ozzmosis04 it’s just a different way of life
@@Ozzmosis04 I’m 39 for 32 more days and I’m going to try and enjoy those precious last days of my 30’s 😂
That garden was incredible, I loved seeing that
Same! And his reactions with tasting was great.
Thank you 😊 it was fun showing him the garden!!
@@tropicaopticathank you 😊I enjoyed showing it to him!!
Filled with chemicals
@@franksindoneii5410 no chemicals used in my garden!! That’s a lot of compost and compost teas!!
Being born and raised from Los Angeles I really appreciate videos like this. Feels like true Americana, which is amazing.
I lived in Santa Ana as a kid. As an army brat, I’ve lived all over, but Virginia is home. ❤
Don't believe the hype.
Most of it is the guys at 18:12
10:53 I like how the guy came out acting like he was doing some just to see what was going on “who is she talking to?”
“I’m gone make me a ‘mater sandwich!” 🍅🥪 love this. 😌
❤❤them mater sammiches are awesome!! Glad I got to share that tomato with him!!
Was lookin for this comment.
Thank you
As someone who also grows tomatoes, there is no sandwich as tasty as a tomato sandwich with the tomato still warm from the sunshine when it was picked!
@@LindaB651 absolutely 💯% true!!
@@heavenlyhillshomestead9465 what varieties of maters were those? Do you have a video showing your tomato varieties on your channel?
never commented on your stuff, but this deserves one... one of your best videos. thoroughly enjoyed it, bravo!
I'm originally from West Virginia and seeing this on my feed today has made me so insanely happy c: I'm glad you got to experience some of my home state, showing some of the positive that is often ignored. Seeing a lot of those people and families in your video just reminds me of the small community I grew up in and how much I miss it
I'm from Arkansas and this made me feel right at home. The hospitality of the southern (and southernish) states is truly heartwarming and unmatched.
I’m from northeast Texas and it’s crazy to see the similarities of our communities that are so far away.
Somehow this is my favorite video you've made. Learning more about our own cultures within the US is very interesting.
I'm so happy you came to get a true West Virginia experience. Not rich in money, but in spirit and love Much love from WV❤
Thank you for your graciousness and interest in my home state!!! Although I've left 40 years ago, whenever I went back to visit, I would cry like a baby when I left. The mountains are brreathtaking, the people so warm and kind: it is really another world. So glad that you immersed yourself in the culture wtih a kindness and curiosity that showed the positive.
❤
I live in Bluefield and know Jonathan. It was crazy to see you come to our region. Thanks for showing our home in a more positive light than we are normally betrayed.
*portrayed, but yes we are often “betrayed” in the media.
Dude thought he had him with the do you speak Cantonese? Xiaoma - I speak a little, yeah
Wow!! That guy REALLY KNOWS HOW TO GROW REAL FOOD!! BEAUTIFUL!! ❤❤❤❤
Thank you 😊 I enjoyed sharing it with him!!
Midwestern pseudp-polyglot here. From "holler" you probably already found a general rule, "holler" comes from "hollow," like Sleepy Hollow. As they said, a hollow is a secluded sort of glade in the forest. Another word that follows the pattern is "waller," from "wallow," as in, to "waller in pity." I never thought twice about it till someone called me out on it being improper, haha. Love your videos, your ability to connect with people makes me want to keep learning.
That guy totally has a different greenhouse that he wouldn't let you film...🤣🤣🥦🔥🌬
😊
lol pretty sure its now legal to grow so much
@@comosaycomosah legal for a bit but bro had a whole operation lol
@@swagscs7793 yea lol you already know he has a some at home plus some fields spread out.
I met an old man at a gas station in the blue ridge range last 4/20 that was telling me the insane quantity of flower he was growing in his greenhouse up on the ridge. Wish I got a tour
As a North Carolinian, genuinely appreciate this. Love all the content, but this one hits close to home.
Same, I'm in Caswell, county of less than 19000, in the only real town-- only 1700 residents. I have kin all up in Wytheville, VA and Logan and Chapmanville, WV. So close to home for me!
Right on! I hadn't heard anyone call a fridge a Kelvinator since my papaw died. So proud to be southern.❤
@spirals73keep us there. We'll be a long time coming back from this. Thank you.
Your face in the side by side while those dudes were speaking so casually was hilarious! I love any TH-cam video that shows off the positive parts of Appalachia
Haha, the wide lens makes it look as if he's staring into the distance~
lmao yea bro hasnt been offroading/driving fast much you can tell
I like it in the house, everybody was talking at once. They're so friendly. I felt like I was there
@@xAshlyy is he not doing that? He seems super different no, i havent seen his vids in years but he seems.. empty. (I trust your opinion cuz i see ur an OTK / twitch fan as well)
@@elijah1110 He isn't. The lens is crazy wide and has distortion. The most I could see happening is the China videos being a little censored and controlled but that's China.
Crazy how amazed this kid is that some guy grows his own produce. Pretty much a common thing once you get out of the big cities. The family garden is what kept much of our country alive during the depression & during the height of WWII.
With all the negativity going around, this was such a breath of fresh air! I’ve been to Arkansas (I highly recommend visiting Petit Jean State Park if you ever get the chance, it’ll take your breath away), eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and other places in the Appalachian Mountains. I’m so happy you showed the Real Side of the wonderful people there: easily the kindest, down-to-earth, “give you the shirt off their back” folks you’ll ever meet. I could go on. And thank you for sharing info on how to help after Hurricane Helene, I’m absolutely donating to the cause, thank you! You are an angel, never let anyone tell you otherwise. With ❤ from The DMV!
Never thought I’d see you in my state. Thank you for shedding some light on the people, and the beauty, of our region. You’re an honorary West Virginian as far as I’m concerned.
I’ve always been intrigued by The Appalachian Mountains, they’re one of the oldest mountain ranges on earth. Your tour guide was THE perfect person. 🙏🏼
The Appalachians were mountains when the dinosaurs were still alive. The Appalachian mountains have secrets.
one of the most biodiverse parts of the US. I’ve seen endangered species of plants/animals hiking around in VA
That gardener is the salt of the earth. It takes a real man to make other things grow like that.
❤❤thank you so very much! I enjoyed sharing it with him!
Roanoker here. Never thought I'd see you down here in these neck of the woods. What a small world.
As an Asian from WV this video makes me so happy! Stinks that I do business in Roanoke a lot and stay at the HR and missed you there.
It’s so healing to hear the word “warsh”
Oddly enough, most of my family from New York say that, and I remember growing up making fun of it 😅. But now that I live in Appalachia it really does have a nostalgicness to it when I hear it.
My father says it that way - he was born and raised in Buffalo New York, but his family came to Western New York by way of Massachusetts. I have not heard anyone else in Western New York say it that way. He also has "melk" in his coffee 🤔
My grandmother in Texas would take me down to the "crick" to play when I visited her. Nice memories tied to an old word.
I’m from WV and that’s how we said it. I used to live in Warshington DC.
My grandfather talked like that. My grandmother was from a sophisticated old family from Charlotte, NC, so not so much. My grandfather grew up on a farm that was in the family for generations so he had all the words.
Howdy from western NC! I’m from McDowell County NC and I grew up in an old house in a mill village across from an old thread mill, all of the houses on the 7 streets around me looked the same because they were all built from the sears catalog over 100 years ago (with coal burning fireplaces no less). Awesome video.
As a born and bred Mountaineer (West Virginian), I'm very proud of our history and traditions. I've lived in Annapolis, Maryland and Louden County, Virginia...but ive always returned home. Live by the adage, 'you take the boy from the mountains, but you can never take the mountains from the boy!!' It's truly Wild and Wonderful & Almost Heaven!!
You guys call yourselves mountaineers? Out here (in the real mountain states) out West, a mountaineer is someone who does technical ascents of mountain peaks. Maybe we should call ourselves that too though!
WV native and current resident. Thank you for showing some good in our state. 🙏
The garden in this video is EVERYTHING ❤❤❤❤❤
If I had the opportunity to physically be in that garden I don't believe I would ever leave.
It was beyond magnificent ❤❤❤❤
Thank you 😊 so much!!❤ it was fun sharing it with him!!
Haven’t seen your videos in a long time dude. Life got real busy for me. That being said. I am so happy to see that you are at a healthy weight. Excellent job Xioma. Health is wealth brother.
I am really impressed. I think you should do more of these Appalachia stories. Honestly, I was blown away. My whole life I associated the name Appalachia with extreme poverty or the famous trail. I am happy to see how lovely it is and how kind the people are. I absolutely loved the farm. So, please, more, more 👏👏👏👏
❤❤
If you want to see what life in the coal towns was really like back in the day, then watch the movie "Matewan." Yes, the company store sold the workers everything they needed, but prices were much higher than in non-company stores, which miners couldn't shop at because they didn't accept scrip. The mines exploited the feces out of the workers and it occasionally led to violence.
Indeed!! My maternal great-grandfather (Charles Troy 'CT' Higgins) was one of the 7 Baldwin-Felts Detective Agents killed in the Matwan Massacre. My paternal great-grandfather and grandfather were Above Ground Mine Foreman at the Weyanoke Coal and Coke Camp in northern Mercer County. My father worked one year in the mines in Mercer Co., then entered WWII and he fought in the South Pacific Campaign in the US Army Air Force. After returning, he worked 38 years as a Class A Transmission Lineman for Appalachian Power Company. Started in Bluefield/Princeton, then transferred to Kanawha County in 1956. I was born in South Charleston in '64.
As a born and bred Mountaineer, I'm very proud of my state and our history.
And yet they act like the coal companies had their best interest...
@@VitaKetRight? I don’t get it. The trade off is Black Lung?
That’s a great movie. On YT I think
@samanthab1923 in the late 1800's/early 1900's the robber barons controlled everything and blacking wasn't completely understood. People just wanted the American Dream by making a living wage. However, the mine owners were businessmen from New York City that could care less!! Much like today's Democrat involved Billionaires. They just want control over everything, including YOU. They hate the US Constitution and Bill of Rights!!
This was a treat, what a great video of really humble and genuine folks.
Most people don't realize that we (in Appalachia) have many many different accents and variations of them, and they can sometimes be distinct between even small towns close together. It's not all the same standard "Alabama drawl" that people seem to think it is. Youns come down see us and you'll see drectly. 😀
Southern hospitality on full display.
So awesome to see youtube uniting humanity in ways we never thought of :)
Dont take the word Yankee personal. It just means she can tell youre not from around the south. Its not antagonistic unless they use it in an antagonistic way.
Anything north of Houston is Yankee territory.
@@bigtex8450amen
@@bigtex8450 Eastern states is the Mason-Dixon.
@@bigtex8450 Anything west of Louisiana, south of Oklahoma and Arkansas, and east of New Mexico is...Mexico
That's right. Yankee isn't meant unkind. And to most people in the South if you're from anywhere else, you're a Yankee. Most Southerners like Yankees coming down now. When I was younger, they didn't always.
I'm an Appalachian from eastern Kentucky. I think we have it pretty damn good here, myself. I could not possibly imagine living anywhere else. I love the way of life here, the people, and the natural paradise I'm lucky enough to spend my life in. Sometimes we forget how good we actually DO have it here. I appreciate the reminder.
And I as a two-plus decade resident from Roanoke feel the same as you do. I giggled when he said he’d flown into Roanoke as if it were going to be some backwoods Appalachian town! Originally from NY having worked in NYC and Bklyn all those years ago, moving here was the best change of life. I have assimilated well!
Roanoke has so much to offer so come on back anytime!!
Seems like a great place to live, until a bunch of out of staters move in , pockets full of money and bring with them their old habits and way of life they were trying to get away from!! My hometown was much better 50-60 years ago, but I guess it depends on what individuals Much Better is ? Assimilation seems better than coming in and trying to change everything , eventually ending up with the old life, taxes and government they originally left ! That’s a very nice town yall live in !! Nothing grows good here except tumble weeds , especially if we get any rain! Watched many of your great videos!!
"Poke" is used in Scotland for a small paper bag. We would go to the store and get a 2oz poke of sweeties as a treat. Sweeties are candies in the U.S. A lot of the words I assume that are used in Appalachia come from a mix of Scottish, English and other European languages and dialects.
Lot of Scottish immigrants came to this region of West Virginia so that definitely makes sense!
They also use POP(England) in place of Soda where as in Scotland its Ginger.
Mostly Scots-Irish and Northern English.
Was about to comment similar when I read your post. Poke o sweets or a poke o chips (French fries) being the most common. Paper pokes and plastic pokes etc etc.
@@cynthiaeller813 and lots of those immigrants came in the late 1600 to early 1700's when English was very different from how it is spoken now!! I loved this video!
This is so awesome!! I live in Dublin Virginia right down the road from Bluefield!! Been watching you for umpteen years brother!! 🍄❤️
I was not expecting to see my city when I clicked on this video! Hello from Roanoke!
Love Salem and Roanoke!!!❤
I’ve watched your videos for a long time and this one was great. Always be facilitated with all the languages you speak but to see you come to an area live I live in and interact was awesome.
As someone from West Virginia, I love this video 😂 please come back!
Why do you want Yankees to come here????
I could watch 10 hours of this! One of my favorite videos of yours so far.
what a great gift, xiaoma!! so many helping out, great to see you on board with the relief efforts.
As someone who is from Roanoke VA and a frequent viewer of the channel I’m SOOO happy that you came to my town and put it on you channel. Just wish I could have bought you a beer.
I super want to go to W. Virginia! I want to bathe in the vibe of the Appalachian mountains, the great Smokey mountains, etc. What a beautiful state with friendly, gracious people.
everyone in this video is so genuine its refreshing
❤❤
I have to show this to my wife. She has a lot of kin in Bluefield and Princeton. She was born in a small town Gladstone Va.
I live in Princeton and this is kinda crazy to see lol
listening to you talk with the family about the region genuinely made me feel like i was at dinner with my grandparents 🥹 thank you for bringing some much-needed positive light to this area !
Aww, this makes me miss my dad. He was from just outside Charleston, WV. We stayed at my grandparents' house many summers. They lived high up in the mountains in Kanawha County. It was so much fun and the mountains are just beautiful. My grandpa was a coal miner, and so was my great-grandfather. Thanks for visiting West Virginia and bringing back so many good memories.