grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

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

pick a bale of Arkansas cotton

October 29, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

Mississippi Co CottonI grew up in the Arkansas Delta, so for me, fall means harvest, and harvest means rice, soybeans, and cotton. As you might gather from the title of this post, once again I’m talking about cotton. (Last cotton blog post for the year. Promise.) Some folks have never seen a field of cotton ready for picking, and the entire process of ginning is a mystery. I made a few videos during my recent tour of Lee Wilson & Company Cotton Gin in Wilson, Arkansas. And, I wrote an article about Arkansas Cotton for First Security Bank’s Only in Arkansas blog. Impressive sustainability improvements have been made in cotton farming since 1980. Click HERE to read all about the world’s most popular fiber.

BUT FIRST, check out my videos which you may find as exciting as watching paint dry, but I happen to love.Continue Reading

Armadillo in my Garden!

October 28, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

Amadillo in the garden!

Each morning, I had to replant a few pansies here and there. At first, I blamed the squirrels, but as the problem grew worse, I began to suspect a different critter. Sunday morning I awoke to a freshly tilled flower bed and a tunnel under my porch. There’s an armadillo in my garden(!), and the nasty thing dug up most every flower. If you look closely at the picture above, you can see all the plants tossed around and NOT in the ground. So stinkin’ rude this digging, rooting, garden-wrecking creature.

I know he’s gotta eat, and his food of choice is grubs. So apparently I have grubs. Or maybe I only have one grub and he’s bound and determined to find it. Or maybe he’s digging to China where there’s a sale on grubs?

Only one way to take care of a problem like this.

Nip it.
Continue Reading

Boo! What would Gracie Lee do?

October 26, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

Boo! What would Gracie do?

(source: Buzzfeed)

What would Gracie Lee do? With Halloween only days away, she would spend all afternoon scheming up a costume using items in her closet. A hobo? A witch? Maybe a gypsy?

Gracie Lee has a colorful imagination and uses it to entertain herself. Sometimes it gets her out of tight spots. Sometimes, like that one certain Halloween, her imagination causes big trouble.Continue Reading

« Previous Page
Next Page »


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:

  • Our Garden Mission Statement
  • Goodbye, 2025. Hello, 2026.
  • Sunday Letter: 11.23.25
  • Maggie and Miss Ladybug: My New Children’s Nature Book
  • Sunday Letter: November 9, 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 © 2026 · Web Hosting By StrataByte