grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

  • Home
  • Bio
  • Publishing
  • SHOP!
  • Garden
  • Food
  • Reading & Books
  • Sunday Letter

The Home Stretch

March 21, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

     Turning north at West Memphis, I breathe a bit easier. The air seems lighter, the skies clearer.  An ordinary trip driven countless times now fortifies me, replenishes memories, helps me remember.  
     A crop duster tilts his yellow wing in my direction, then turns and dips before misting fertilizer across winter wheat. Like crocus pushing through the cold, he is a first sign of spring.  To dazed travelers and long-haul truckers, the flat landscape appears dead and dull, yet I know life churns beneath wet fields. 
     In the distance, a recent thunderstorm hovers over the Mississippi River. Clouds hang heavy and purple.
talya

Musical Pairing:

Home Sweet Home, The Farm

Filed Under: Family, Farm, Nature & Seasons Tagged With: cotton, farmers, Mississippi County, Mississippi Delta, Mississippi River, Northeast Arkansas, spring

Wanna receive posts via email? Sign up here!

Comments

  1. TimH says

    March 21, 2013 at 8:39 am

    Beautifully written, Talya, and yeah…There’s no place like home…

  2. Joyce Lansky says

    March 21, 2013 at 3:12 pm

    Hey, wait a minute. Were you in my neighborhood? I live in Memphis.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/2013/03/passover-quiz.html

    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      March 21, 2013 at 5:44 pm

      Yes Joyce! I am from Northeast Arkansas:))

  3. Julie Grimmett says

    March 22, 2013 at 5:56 pm

    Beautiful! And I agree, there is no place like home.


Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (2022)

THE THIRD ACT OF THEO GRUENE (coming 2025)

Recent Ramblings:

  • Sunday Letter: 11.23.25
  • Maggie and Miss Ladybug: My New Children’s Nature Book
  • Sunday Letter: November 9, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: Oct 26, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: Oct 5, 2025

Novels:

Coloring Books:

Fiction-Themed Coloring Books

Backyard Phenology:

Children’s Nature Book:

Never miss a blog post! Subscribe via email:

Looking for something?

Categories

All the Things!

A to Z April Blog Challenge Autumn BAT Book Reviews childhood Christmas creative writing prompt Dallas Desserts Fall Fayetteville Food Gracie Lee Halloween Hemingway-Pfeiffer holiday recipes home humor Johnson Family Keiser Lake Norfork Lucy and Annabelle Mississippi County Mississippi Delta Monarch butterflies Munger Place Nana nature Northeast Arkansas Northwest Arkansas Osceola poem Reading Schnauzer simple living simple things spring spring gardening Summer Talya Tate Boerner novel Thanksgiving The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee Thomas Tate Winter Wordless Wednesday

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!

All content and photos Copyright Grace, Grits and Gardening © 2025 · Web Hosting By StrataByte