grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Pictured: Delta Cotton

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P i c t u r e d: Delta Cotton

Cotton-picking time in the Delta is my favorite. This week when I haven’t been holed up working on my book edits (yay!), I’ve been driving from the bootheel of Missouri and along the Great River Road searching out magazine and blog post stories. The highways and byways of the Delta are roaring with trucks hauling soybeans and grain. The gins are ginning at capacity. I can often be found poking around in fields or parked on the side of the road taking pictures. So far, the farmers work around me. ? ??

A few Delta cotton pics. (The smoke in the first two pictures is from the adjacent soybean field—burning stalks after harvest.)

cotton picker

 

round bale cotton

 

Adams Cotton Gin

 

old cotton picking sack

 

in the cotton field

 

1910 cotton picking basket

 

Delta cotton!

  1. John Deere picker, Mississippi County, Ar.
  2. Round bale, Mississippi County, Ar.
  3. Adams Cotton Gin, Leachville, Ar.
  4. Old cotton picking sack, Mississippi County Museum, Osceola, Ar.
  5. Momma, my sister and me.
  6. 1910 cotton picking basket, Mississippi County Museum, Osceola, Ar.
  7. Beautiful boll, Dunklin County, Mo.

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]In them old cotton fields back home… @ArFB @JohnDeere #farming #Delta #Arkansas[/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cotton Fields Back Home

get thee to The Junk Ranch

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Yesterday I spent the afternoon at The Junk Ranch in Prairie Grove. If you live in Northwest Arkansas and are looking for something to do today, GO. Admission Saturday (today) is $5. You will find plenty of antiques, vintage, repurposed, primitive and homemade items plus live music and good food spread over 35 acres of pastureland. You couldn’t ask for better weather. If you aren’t feeling the spirit of fall, The Junk Ranch will take you there. And p.s., since today is the last day, vendors will be ready to deal!

A few pics from yesterday…

The Junk Ranch, Prairie Grove, Ar

 

vintage aprons - The Junk Ranch

 

Jacks!

 

having fun at The Junk Ranch

 

Farm Girls Only

 

Kettle Corn

my Junk Ranch treasures

  1. Big red barn.
  2. Vintage apron bunting.
  3. Jacks!
  4. Girls’ shopping trip.
  5. Farm Girls Only.
  6. Kettle Corn—a good/bad idea.
  7. My haul: a) pig wire message board; b) antique luggage rack (a steal at $15!), c) vintage coffee tin for future craft project; d) Junk Ranch t-shirt.

The Junk Ranch
11195 Centerpoint Church Road
Prairie Grove, Arkansas
Admission $5 / Children 12 and under Free
Free Parking

For a great tour of The Junk Ranch check out Junque Rethunque’s periscope broadcast HERE.

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Get thee to The Junk Ranch. Your last chance until spring! #JunkRanch #PrairieGrove [/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing: (this band is part of The Junk Ranch lineup)

The Squarshers, Never Will I Forget

 

 

Lucy and Annabelle go to Wilson Park

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Lucy and Annabelle go to Wilson Park

On the day before the last day of summer, Lucy and Annabelle went to Wilson Park. The weather was perfect, as you might imagine Autumn-Eve-Eve to be. Wilson Park, Fayetteville’s oldest park, is a 22.75-acre oasis within walking distance of our house. And, a river runs through it. Well, actually a creek—Scull Creek. As Lucy and Annabelle stood watching from the bridge above, it was as though they understood the immenseness of the place beyond our spot in the Ozark Mountains—that the water beneath them would join the Illinois River and eventually flow into the Gulf of Mexico. The world is astonishing, even for dogs.

Especially for these dogs.Continue Reading

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

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