"Perhaps the beings most profoundly affected by the American chestnut's demise were the people who shared the mountains with the tree: the self-sufficient farmers who counted chestnuts as an essential ally in their struggle to scrape together a living. Chestnuts had been one of the most important sources of cash for mountain farmers. The blight not only brought an end to the nut trade, but also diminished the farmers' ability to raise and sell hogs, another vital source of income. Few could afford to grow or purchase feed, which is why for generations they'd depended on forest forage to fatten their livestock.... It was more than [economic hardship] to Joe Tribble, who grew up in eastern Kentucky: 'Man, I had the awfulest feeling about that as a child to look back yonder and see those trees dying. I thought the whole world was going to die.' "