Historic Hotel Seeks Artistic Future

By Jill Henderson

In the small town of Berryville, Arkansas, a piece of Ozarks history is slowly re-emerging from the past, thanks to two dedicated souls with a dream. Six years ago, Alexander Virden and his partner Sandra Doss, sold everything they owned – including their own home – to finance the restoration of a 109 year old landmark known as the Grand View Hotel. Their dream – to turn the abandoned and condemned beauty into a thriving community arts center and local gathering place. After pouring all of their own money into completing the main floor, the duo now lack the resources to fully complete their dream of a non-profit center for the arts. This is their story.

Great Horned Owls – Giants of the Forest

By Jill Henderson
Excerpt from A Journey of Seasons:
A Year in the Ozarks High Country

Last night, as I stood outside admiring the way the stars danced brightly in the clear dark winter sky,  I heard the unmistakably deep, resonating call of one of the Ozarks most reclusive giants -  the great horned owl.

CAHH! Announces 2011 Seed Swaps

“One for the cut worm, one for the crow, one to share, and one to grow”

Our good friends over at the University of Central Arkansas asked me to pass along their 2011 schedule of CAHH! (Conserving Arkansas Agricultural Heritage) co-sponsored seed swaps taking place at various locations throughout Arkansas.   This is an excellent opportunity to share or find rare and unusual heirloom seeds from the Ozarks region.  Read on and plan on attending a swap in your area!  J.H.

Closest to Everlastin’: Ozark Agricultural Biodiversity and Subsistence Traditions (Part Three)

By Brian C. Campbell
University of Central Arkansas

  Agroecological Knowledge:

Ozarkers who engage in agrobiodiverse farming have knowledge of their environment and the species within it that allow them to survive (agroecological knowledge).  They utilize both wild and domesticated species, observe their behavior and interrelationships, and apply that information to use in gastronomy and agriculture.

Closest to Everlastin’: Ozark Agricultural Biodiversity and Subsistence Traditions (Part Two)

By Brian C. Campbell
University of Central Arkansas

Willodean: Ozark Subsistence Traditions in the Present

On a spring day in 2009 I visited the home of Kenneth and Willodean Smyth in Marshall, Arkansas.  They live a mere six blocks off the main highway, but their fifteen acres boasts a very large garden, fruit trees, nut trees, blackberry brambles, chicken coops, a humble,

“Closest to Everlastin’”: Ozark Agricultural Biodiversity and Subsistence Traditions (Part One)

By Brian C. Campbell
University of Central Arkansas

Taking form in cultivated fields and gardens, managed hedgerows and woodlands, varieties of crop species, and livestock breeds, agricultural biodiversity refers to the human-modified components of the natural world that contribute to the sustenance of human populations.

Oil and Gas Collection: Hydraulic Fracturing, Toxic Chemicals and the Surge of Earthquake Activity in Arkansas

Fracking the Life Out of Arkansas and Beyond by Rady Ananda – Global Reasearch

The last four months of 2010, nearly 500 earthquakes rattled Guy, Arkansas. [1]  The entire state experienced 38 quakes in 2009. [2]  The spike in quake frequency precedes and coincides with the 100,000 dead fish on a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River that included Roseville Township on December 30. The next night, 5,000 red-winged blackbirds and starlings dropped dead out of the sky in Beebe. [3]  Hydraulic fracturing is the most likely culprit for all three events, as it causes earthquakes with a resultant release of toxins into the environment. [4]
Read the entire article here…

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Shaky Ground: The Missing Link in the Arkansas Bird Kill

By Jill Henderson

For a couple of days now I’ve been glued to the horrifying stories of thousands of birds raining down from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas and the massive fish kill in the Arkansas River.  And while these two mysterious events occurred within 24 hours of each other and were located a mere 125 miles apart, government agencies and mainstream media continue to insist that there is no link between them.  But the missing link to this mystery might lie right beneath our noses…

Winter Colors: The Spirit of Place

By Sara Firman (Sulis)

In the world of home interiors, natural tones, are often boring neutrals.  Yet the natural world is never boring or neutral.  Even in winter, colors abound. 

What Lies Beneath: Karst and the Ozarks

 By Jill Henderson

Recently I was leafing through a bunch of old pictures that I had taken of our first Ozarks farm and the surrounding countryside.  I was admiring my favorite shots – those of deep rolling hills and meandering rivers and clear blue springs.  These are the things that speak so clearly to love of this place – the thing that keeps my feet from wandering too far away for too long.

From Monoculture Farmer to Homestead Beekeeper

By James A. Zitting

Some of my earliest desires to live sustainably on the land were fueled in my early 20’s by reading Mother Earth Magazine and books by Gene Logsdon, Masanobu Fukuoka, and others. These readings planted a desire in me to live the country life in a different way than I had been raised.