grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Farm Livin’

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Today I am participating in a week of ThanksBlogging with Arkansas Women Bloggers.  Today’s challenge is to take a photo of something I am thankful for and enhance it with Pic Monkey.

Highway 140, Mississippi County, Arkansas
I am thankful to have been raised on a farm,
where I learned the smell and feel of dirt,
where a traffic jam means being stuck behind a tractor.
I breathe it in, hold it inside, take it with me.
talya
Musical Pairing:


“I know the pleasure of pulling up root vegetables. They are solvable mysteries.” 
― Novella Carpenter

Fall is…

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This post is Day 3 of the BLOGtober Fest challenge with Arkansas Women Bloggers. Theme is Fall Traditions…

Easy peasy…

In our family, we have several fall traditions, but my favorites are …

  • That first eye-rolling-back-in-my-head bite of corn dog from the state fair, hot from the grease and dripping with mustard. A trip to the state fair is always on the agenda. 
  • That first weekend of college football which pairs perfectly with the season’s first bowl of chili. (My husband makes amazing chili…) A house divided, we claim many teams cheering for Arkansas and Arkansas State (always), other SECteams when it benefits Arkansas, and Texas when they play Oklahoma. We almost support LSU when they play Florida. Florida, never. Although it rarely happens since the fall of the Southwest Conference, if Baylor should play Arkansas, I cheer for whichever team has the ball. Yes, I graduated from Baylor and LOVE the Hogs…  Conflicted.
    My handsome Razorback
  • Cotton Harvest! The holiest of times. The fields are transformed into a sea of white, thick enough to walk on. My favorite smell, the smell of cotton. 
can you smell it?

talya
Musical Pairings:

Arkansas Fight Song

Nature’s Symphony

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dove
The field rests, preparing for winter. The temperature is thirty degrees cooler than before.

As I walk the perimeter, unsuspecting critters are surprised by my return. They have received no visitors since the combines moved out. Hidden, life waits for me to pass, then plops or jumps or slithers behind me just out of sight. 

I surprise a hawk on the ditch bank, and he surprises me. He swoops along the water, choosing a new spot to roost. The beaver dam has grown larger with sticks and brush woven tightly, a bridge to the other side. A brown grasshopper follows me, jumping at my feet, keeping pace and hitching a ride on my shirt for a few yards. Hello little fellow! He doesn’t answer back.
I visit my favorite spot, adding to the hidden treasures in my rusty hubcab – another shotgun shell casing, a feather, a piece of broken green glass, a shiny silver key. A bright pink candy wrapper half buried in the field proves a curious find…. Aren’t farmers and strawberry Laffy Taffy mutually exclusive?
The morning sounds are richly layered like an impressive symphony orchestra, well rehearsed and perfectly timed. Nearest to me, crickets chirp a steady melody, almost a recognizable tune. The occasional plop of a turtle into water adds deep bass sounds. Overhead, dove trill and whistle.  Nature’s high notes. Harmony surrounds me in the rustle of turning leaves. East across the fields, traffic hums on the interstate as trucks haul beans to the river, autumn’s final crescendo.

talya

Musical Pairing:

October, U2

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!