grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Go Texan! Buy Local.

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Soon I’ll be heading to Helena, Arkansas to spend time with a few of my fellow Arkansas Women Bloggers. If you know anything about me, you know I love going home to the Delta. 
Since I’m the only Texas girl attending this event—(yes, I claim dual citizenship…)—I thought it would be fun to take a bit of Texas with me to share with my blogger friends. And, since I happened to be in the Food and Fiber Building at the State Fair of Texas when this genius of an idea struck me, what better gift for these ladies than locally made Texas goodies? 
Go Texan! Buy Local.
I began snapping pictures of various products in the Go Texan General Store, grabbing business cards and tasting samples when available. The Food and Fiber Building is known for bountiful samples…plus while grazing, there are educational exhibits to peruse about cotton farming. (Need I say more?) 
Later that night I contacted four of the businesses represented at the State Fair. Would you like to donate something to a great group of Arkansas blogger gals? 
Texas local businesses

Every Single Business enthusiastically agreed to provide something for my blogger friends. These small businesses blew me away with their generosity providing marvelous candies and soaps and lotions and lip balms. 
I was reminded of how important it is to buy local. These are the local businesses that keep our country ticking, even when it isn’t… 
Feast your eyes on these gorgeous offerings.
Go Texas! Buy Local.
Berdoll Pecan Candy & Gift Company
Cedar Creek, Texas
Seriously? Candy corn + Chocolate = Heaven.

Go Texan! Buy Local. Main Street Soap Company
 Main Street Soap Company
Richland Hills, Texas

I wonder if I could trade rosemary for soap? 

Go Texan! Buy Local. Goat Haus Dairy
Goat Haus Dairy
Bryan, Texas
I slathered goat milk lotion all over my arms at the fair and considered drinking it… 
Go Texan! Buy Local. Two Girls Toffery
 Two Girls Toffery
Addison, Texas

I’ve had a thing for toffee since my first trick-or-treating Heath bar. THIS is slap yo momma greatness.

There’s still time to buy these goodies in person at the State Fair of Texas General Store in the Food and Fiber Building. (The fair runs through Sunday, October 20.) 

Or, visit online by clicking on the company names below:  

Berdoll Pecan Candy
Main Street Soap
Goat Haus Dairy
Two Girls Toffery

Are you making out your Christmas list yet?

talya

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

P.S. There are many, many other Go Texan companies represented at the State Fair. For a complete listing, click HERE. 

(The companies mentioned in this post provided gifts for a blogger tourism event at my request. I received no monetary compensation. All opinions and comments are my own.)

Reflections on Arkansas Women Bloggers Unplugged!

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When was the last time you went to camp? As a kid, Momma packed me up and sent me off to various camps during the summer including basketball camp in Conway, church camp in Ravenden Springs, and cheerleading camp at Arkansas State. 
Except for the basketball practice, preaching and constant “we’ve got spirit, yes we do…” part, I liked camp.
Last weekend I attended AWBU, a blogger camp for Arkansas women bloggers, quite possibly some of the same ladies who attended basketball, church and cheerleading camps with me in the seventies…
AWBU was held at Ferncliff, a 1,200 acre camp nestled in the forest near Little Rock. With a bunkhouse and cafeteria, it was not unlike my memory of beautiful Ravenden Springs.
The whole ‘face with a name’ thing was exhilarating. I met bloggers I’ve been fans of for two years—Delta Moxie, Porkchop Tuesday, Desperately Seeking Gina, Dining with Debbie, Pink Heels Pink Truck, The Park Wife, and Ramblings of a Little Wife to name a few. When people said to me Oh, you’re Grace Grits?, I felt validated.
Meeting Gregg Patterson from Arkansas Farm Bureau was also a highlight. Yes, I follow Farm Bureau around like most follow sports teams…
The conference was fast paced with educational sessions throughout the day involving SEO, branding, and coding. Being able to talk blogging all day and night with like-minded ladies without getting that oh-no-here-she-goes-again-glazed-look was as delicious as the Petit Jean bacon served for breakfast each morning. 
I left the conference feeling more focused and excited about my writing. The weekend included just enough cheerleading to make us energized and just enough exercise (a 5-K instead of basketball) to work off some of that bacon. Plus, the serene setting was downright spiritual.
talya
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.


Memories of Summer

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Bicycle riding. Cloud gazing. Tree climbing.

Off to summer camp in a hot, bumpy bus. Seeing old friends, making new ones. Do you want the top bunk? 

Counting down to family lake trips, heaven on earth, our happiest place. Sad, sad, sad for the week to end.

Mornings lost in the cool, quiet library, my nose buried inside The Bungalow Mystery.

Chopping cotton with my sister, slow and steady, sun streaming across the field. See the blister on my hand?

Sleepovers with cousins, scary movies, giggling til dawn.

Church revival, the pew hard, would the sermon never end?

Trapping lightning bugs in mayonnaise jars. Pork ribs smoking on the grill. Can we eat yet?

Hunting down the perfect stick for late night marshmallow roasts. Shooting Roman candles from the dock. Oh beautiful, for spacious skies…

Days were long. Nights were sultry. By the first fall football game, summer had evaporated in a blur of laughter, a sweet memory recorded in my diary, recorded in my mind.

What memories will you make this summer?

talya

Follow Grace Grits and Gardening for heartfelt stories of food, farm, family and life. Talya blogs for the East-Dallas Lakewood Advocate and is a monthly contributor to Inspiration Cafe. A farm girl from Northeast Arkansas, she splits time between Dallas and Arkansas.

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!