The 37th Annual War Eagle Craft Fair by Joshua Heston and Dale Grubaugh It all started with a heavy rain. The clouds rolled over the Ozark hills along with unseasonably cold temperatures. Plate 2. Downpours hit the high country of the Boston Mountains — the headwaters of the White River, the Kings River, and the…
Plate 1. Shmoo In The Cradle (Jonathan’s Pumpkin or White Cushaw), February 5, 2008. As a side note, this particular cushaw weighed in at 20.5 pounds. Now that’s prolific! — the editor Cushaw by Donny Heston Unsuspectingly, I took a packet of Jere Gettle’s white cushaw seeds and planted four hills, each a hoe-handle length…
Plate 1. Harvest cornucopia. October 11, 2008. Hillbilly Vegetable Fixin’s from How They Lived In The Ozarks by Chick Allen Chick Allen, fourth generation in the Ozarks — of Indian blood — was born in a log cabin on the James River. This is the story of the way the early Indians and white settlers…
Plate 1. “Magdelene,” owned by Whitney Coffelt of Omaha, Arkansas, gives the photographer an inquisitive look toward the end of the evening. Cattle by Joshua Heston Whether raised for beef or milk, cattle have become one of the most ubiquitous animals of the North American farm. In fact, it’s hard to get any more American…
Farming Heroes by Joshua Heston Truck patches were special things, ripe with humidity, a hard sun and an occasional rattlesnake. Looking like nothing so much as a great big garden patch, truck patches filled with the everyday vegetables of the Ozarks — for picking, eating… and selling. There is cultural heritage — and then there…
Orchards by Joshua Heston Except for wild plums and black cherries (which don’t exactly grow in orchards anyway), fruit trees were originally imported. Peaches, originally bred in Asia, became a symbol of the Old South…and of Central Missouri as well. More than one summertime tourist to the Ozarks could not pass up the appeal of…
Fields & Patches by Joshua Heston Fields were not terribly common in the more rugged parts of the Ozarks. Patches, on the other hand, were. It took but a small bit of land, carved out of the hillside, to grow a patch of grain. Corn, called maize elsewhere, was a certainty. Native to North American,…
Growing Food by Joshua Heston Arkansas peaches. Missouri vineyards. Strawberry pickin’. Turnip greens. Summertime tomato canneries. Late fall apples. Think about how much fruits and vegetables are associated with old times, old-fashioned ways, and, of course, the Ozark hills. StateoftheOzarks’ Food Growin’ section is established to remember the old days when we actually knew from…
Ozark Spring Houses by Dale Grubaugh Springhouses were just that — houses (rock structures) built over a flowing spring. Their purpose? To keep food cool. Back in the day, there were no ice boxes or refrigerators. During the summer, milk and cheese would be put in crock jars or glass jugs and immersed in the…
Mountain Curs by Joshua Heston While Tip the Wander Dog in Johnie Groves’ story was not identified by breed, it is not impossible the eponymous subject of the article was a mountain cur. Hardly an auspicious name for a nearly forgotten breed. The word cur brings with it highly negative connotations. One dictionary defines cur…