Dutch Oven Cookin’ by Elias Tucker (Dale Grubaugh) Winter can be a challenge in these Ozark hills. During the last week of January, the hills around here got all dressed for the occasion. Blanketed in sleet, snow and freezing rain, the Ozarks looked a bit like a waiting bride in a veil of ice. Beautiful…
PLATE 1. Quercus palustris. Oak by Joshua Heston There are so many species of oak in the Ozark Mountain region that identifying them all is a bit daunting. This is only a partial list. White Oak (Q. alba) Black Oak (Q. valutina) Pin Oak (Q. palustris) Bur Oak (Q. macrocarpa) Shingle Oak (Q. imbrecaria) Post…
PLATE 1. Dogwood blossoms, Taney County, Missouri (March 31, 2009). I Was Given — to See — the Trees by Jim Barrett (FROM MY BOOK OF WORD PICTURES) I found myself in a primordial forest of gigantic white oak trees on an Ozark mountaintop ridge line – and I knew that I was looking at…
PLATE 1. The magical Blue Spring empties into the Current River, Shannon County, Missouri. February 20, 2009. Deep & Blue: Springs of the Ozarks by Joshua Heston Pure water spilling from the rock itself. There is an elemental quality to the idea. Particularly to flat-landers, there is something enchanting about Ozarks springs. The scene of…
Sassafras by Joshua Heston The sassafras tree is fragrant — reminiscent of lemon — when its branches or leaves are crushed. There are no sassafras species outside of North America and its common (and Latin) names are derived from a Native American word for the tree. A generation ago, sassafras was regularly used as a…
“Made a batch of yummy spiced apples! Thank you for the recipe!” — Ron Regehr, StateoftheOzarks Subscriber Spiced Crabapples (Makes about 6 pint jars)1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces1 tablespoon whole allspice1 tablespoon whole cloves4 1/2 cups granulated sugar3 cups water2 1/2 cups white vinegar8 cups stemmed crabapples, pricked with a fork1. Tie cinnamon stick pieces,…
PLATE 1. Miller’s Bluff, Bourbeuse River Aunt Pena by Dale Grubaugh My great Aunt Pena [Peenee] Ringhiesen Stovall wasn’t my great aunt when I first met her. She lived on the Bourbeuse River near the old Hog Trough Bridge in Gasconade County, Missouri, and was a neighbor to my Uncle Sidney and Aunt Mildred. As…
(PLATE 1, above)”That’s me and old Mickey. He was about 15 when I moved to Neosho and I took him with me and kept him in the garage there. Came in one night and old Mickey wasn’t in there. I spent several days hunting for him but I never found him. Went off and died…
PLATE 1. Talking Rocks Cavern opens into an underground fairyland. Talking Rocks Cavern (Fairy Cave) by Joshua Heston The history of the ages often collides with our old-time pioneer and hillbilly memories here in the Ozarks. Such was a day back in 1883 when two boys went rabbit hunting in the steep and rocky hills…
Plate 1 (above) The Mysterious Gillioz by Joshua Heston Heat waves shimmered across the asphalt. Alleyway trees, mostly ailanthus and catalpa, quivered against the rare breeze. Midday streets were nearly empty as the collective of Springfield business folk braced themselves against yet another scorching August day. Downtown Springfield, Missouri. Just another medium-sized city in America,…