Tag: NWA

Best Crop I Ever Raised {Women’s History}

Best Crop I Ever Raised {Women’s History}
Written by Susan Anglin of Spotted Cow Review.

As I work everyday on our dairy farm, I think a lot about the phrase my mother-in-law, Bonnah Lyn, used to say when introducing us to friends or acquaintances—“This is my family—the best crop I ever raised!” Born in 1925 in the rural Arkansas community of Vaughn, Bonnah Lyn was not only the daughter of a farmer, a farm wife and a mother—she was a farmer.

Bonnah Lyn was the second generation to live and work on the farm with her parents. Like most Northwest Arkansas farms in the late 1920’s, Bonnah Lyn’s family milked a few dairy cows by hand, raised chickens, pigs, beef cows and apples. All farm work was by manual labor and without the benefit of electricity or running water. Home chores were added to the list of daily farm work such as gathering wood for the wood burning cook stove and carrying water from the spring or well for drinking, cooking, bathing and laundry. Trips to town to deliver apples or other farm products were made with horse and buggy. I can only imagine the excitement when electricity brought conveniences to her generation that today we take for granted! When I think about the transitions and hardships in her life time, I realize how spoiled I am with all of our modern conveniences. She lived the motto of the Great Depression to “Repair, reuse, make do and don’t throw away anything.”

As a seasoned farm wife with twenty seven years married to the dairy farmer, I have a great appreciation for the sacrifices Bonnah Lyn and other farm women have made in their lifetimes on the farm for the next generation of family farmers. Ninety eight percent of all American farms are family farms. With only two percent of the population working to produce the safe food that we enjoy as Americans, it is important to encourage our families to continue the farm family tradition.

Although our family farm has changed in how it looks and the technologies that are used, our commitment to produce safe, high quality milk while caring for the land and animals continues just as in previous generations. I, too, find myself proudly saying with real understanding about raising the fourth generation of family farmers, “This is my family—the best crop I ever raised!”

Susan Anglin , born and raised as a city girl in Bentonville, now lives on a Benton County dairy and beef farm with her husband,two son and lots of cows. Susan loves sharing about life on the farm and how they produce safe food. You can read more about her on her blog Spotted Cow Review.

Dining with Lincoln and Washington {Foodie Friday}

Dining with Lincoln and Washington {Foodie Friday}.
Written by Lyndi Fultz of NWA Foodie

On Tuesday everyone got allllll worked-up and excited about Valentines Day when clearly their focus was in the wrong place.

C’mon people… you missed Lincoln’s birthday last weekend!

Thankfully you STILL HAVE TIME for Washington’s birthday next Wednesday. Shew! I almost felt sorry for you if you had missed that one, too.

Let’s get real.

Does anyone really go all-out for President’s Day weekend?

Where are ads for that day? The gifts? The lavish family meals?

Since the powers-that-be determined that both Lincoln and Washington should have their own day, let’s dig a little deeper into the fetishes of two of our founding fathers.

Food fetishes, that is.

A quick google search reveals a surprising amount of juicy gossip when it comes to their habits and desires. “Juicy” and “gossip” may be stretching it just a bit, I realize. Although, I must admit, I am curious about the dining delights during that day and age. Aren’t you curious, too?

President George Washington

According to foodtimeline.org. [insert link: http://www.foodtimeline.org/presidents.html#washington] “George Washington’s own eating habits were relatively simple. One observer of the time said that he “took what came with philosophy”; certainly no one could accuse our first President of having been a gourmet. Custis, Martha Washington’s grandson, described Washington’s food preferences: “He ate heartily, but was not particular in his diet, with the exception of fish, of which he was excessively fond. He partook sparingly of dessert, drank a home-made beverage, and from four to five glasses of Madeira wine”…A special passion of the President’s was nuts. He would buy hazelnuts and shellbacks by the barrel.”

There you have it. He ate simply and heartily and was excessively fond of fish and nuts. If it is true, Madeira may have been his best friend. Or at least got him across the Delaware River more comfortably.

Here’s an idea. Perhaps Monday should be called Madeira-Monday instead of President’s Day?

Let’s move on.

President Abraham Lincoln

Let’s learn what foodtimeline.org’s [insert link: http://www.foodtimeline.org/presidents.html#lincoln] has to say about the man who instituted my personal favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. “Lincoln relied on food to feed the furnace. He ate well when served a tasty meal, but was usually so preoccupied with problems of politics and power that he gave little thought to food unless faced with it. Then he could enjoy a delicious meal as well as the next one…”Family meals at the Lincolns’ were routine. Early in the morning the President liked a “good hot cup of coffee.” But often he would forget about breakfast until 9 or 10A.M. John Hay, one of Lincoln’s privage secretaries, occasionally ate with the President. He noted that the frugal repast might consist of “an egg, a piece of toast, coffee, etc.” On occasion breakfast was a single egg. For lunch, Hay reported, Lincoln “took a little lunch–a biscuit, a glass of milk in winter, some fruit or grapes in summer…He ate less than anyone I know.” Lunch was usually eaten irregularly…”

Boring.

If given the opportunity, I would skip dinner with Lincoln and accept that invitation with Washington.

Here is what I suggest…

This weekend, in honor of President’s Day Weekend, take a few minutes and do a google search on “favorite foods of presidents” and review the culinary delights, passions, and good-old-fashioned-yarns about our forty-four presidents.

At the very least, pick up a bottle of Madeira. That is what I’m going to do.

It’s only right.

Eat well, my friends. Eat well.

Lyndi

A Partridge in a Pear Tree? {Handmade Holiday}

We are a family of traditions – almost obsessively so (as I’ve mentioned over at The Food Adventuress). Still, I’m always looking for new additions to the list of things we love to do together.

Don’t misunderstand – this doesn’t mean I have my act together. Today, for example, I finally removed the remaining pumpkins from our front porch in recognition of the fact that a) it is mid-December and b) they looked kind of goofy along with our Christmas lights. I stand by my reasoning that they work right through Thanksgiving, but then my arguments get a little fuzzy. I promise, though, that pumpkins are (eventually) relevant to this post.

Starting a few years ago, my now eight year old daughter and I began concocting a “bird tree” as part of our holiday traditions. As much as I enjoy things that we can all do as a family (here’s a fantastic, free and easy idea you could still incorporate with your family this year!), I also yearn for those special things I can do to connect with just one child at a time or one on one with my husband.

Our bird tree has evolved from a single branch to trimmings from our real Christmas tree to the point that this year, we’re using a potted tree that will grow slowly and can be reused for many years moving forward. We set it somewhere very visible in the front yard – both for ease of bird-viewing and to incite questions from neighbors and hopefully inspire similar actions from other families. In fact, last year we used the same idea as a holiday staff activity at my workplace, the Ozark Natural Science Center (read Slowing Down with a Cranberry Garland).

The bird tree is meant to be a slowing-down activity, and a gift to nature at a time when many of us are incredibly focused on doing and rushing and buying. We start with a bowl of freshly popped popcorn (on the stove, without all the extras birds do not need) and a bowl of fresh cranberries. We sit together – talking, working slowly, getting sticky, pricking our fingers – and string them into garlands using needles and thread.

When our garlands are complete we set out to hang them on the tree along with quartered oranges, little reusable baskets of birdseed, pinecones with peanut butter and seeds, sunflower heads and anything else we think our feathered friends would safely enjoy. This year, we found some millet sprays to use, and sometimes we add twig or straw stars or other decorations. And, there is some good to those pumpkins left so long and forlornly on the front porch: I cut them into little pieces and found the weather had preserved them. They are full of good meat and seed that will help visiting birds this winter, so some good came of my inability to get things done!

This is such a great activity for anyone, and especially when you can include your own (or some stray neighborhood? With permission, of course!) kids. As an aside, we often start putting birdseed and treats out well before the weather turns very cold in order to start “coaching” the birds that we are the dining establishment to visit all winter long. We also took a little time several years ago to make our yard a certified wildlife habitat through a fantastic program from the National Wildlife Federation – this is another outstanding, free, educational, fun and ongoing family activity!

As you look for meaningful activities this holiday season, think outside the box when you consider handmade holidays. “Crafts” do not have to mean hours of baking and decorating cookies, purchasing pricey supplies or spending hours at a daunting task that may or may not turn out the way you intended. Creating a bird tree feels good, looks good, has a tangible outcome and is one of those tiny steps toward making the world a better place. Happy handmade holiday!

Beth is the marketing maven and one of four founding members of Arkansas Women Bloggers, but her real job is as executive director of the Ozark Natural Science Center – a nonprofit field science, environmental education, camp and conference facility in northwest Arkansas. She blogs over at The Little Magpie and The Food Adventuress and finds herself eating far more of her mother’s rum cake around the holidays than she would care to admit.