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Little Custom Homes in Mississippi County, Arkansas

May 5, 2017 By Talya Tate Boerner 5 Comments

Little Custom Homes, Bassett, Ar

It’s no secret I love to share all the interesting things happening in Mississippi County, Arkansas. That’s where I grew up and where my Momma still farms. Now we can add Little Custom Homes, LLC to the coolness.

How cute are these? The only thing missing is a puppy on each porch.

Am I right?

I’ve not officially toured these homes, but I’ve driven by them, stalked them from afar, and memorized the photos on the website. And while I’m not (yet) a tiny house dweller, these Little Custom Homes (company owned by Bill Denton) make me believe I could pare down my stuff to those can’t-live-without books belongings. So often, I feel stifled by stuff. Don’t you?Continue Reading

Wilson, Arkansas: How Geography Shapes a Place

March 15, 2017 By Talya Tate Boerner 29 Comments

Wilson, Arkansas: How Geography Shapes a Place—downtown square

(This post is sponsored by Designsensory, Inc. Opinions are my own.)

I’ve been thinking about how geography shapes a place. Not only the physical landscape, which often determines the direction a town grows (nestled within a valley or spread across the flat prairie), but also the way geography shapes the culture of a place. Over time, geographic location has certainly played a significant role in the culture of Wilson, Arkansas. From Mississippi River swampland to cotton empire to Delta town of the present, Wilson is distinctive in part because of the very landscape surrounding it.

Wilson, Arkansas —McFadden grave in cotton field

Consider the Music.

If a highway can affect culture, Highway 61 has certainly played a role in the small towns scattered throughout the Delta. Also known as the Great River Road, this American byway passes through downtown Wilson, paving the area in blues history. Many of our country’s greatest musicians played juke joints all throughout northeast Arkansas including a few miles north in Osceola and south to Twist.

B. B. King christened his guitar Lucille in Twist after a fight over a woman and a fire that left its mark in Delta history.

There’s no denying the Delta has long been a hotbed of passion and inspiration. My theory? The rural, pancake-flat landscape of northeast Arkansas lends itself to creativity. When one lives in a setting pulled straight from the pages of a Flannery O’Conner novel, the mind is free to wander and dream with no boundaries.

That’s a mighty far distance.

Wilson, Arkansas - Highway 61 / Great River Road
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Arkansas Delta in Purple

February 22, 2017 By Talya Tate Boerner 16 Comments

Henbit in crystal

Right now in the Arkansas Delta, the color purple is putting on a show. Fields are dressed and ready for an early spring, the color explosion proof that the soil is warming to the point of supporting blooms. This particular bloom, common henbit, looks anything but common when it blankets an entire field. It has a fancy name, Lamium Amplexicaul. Yes, henbit is a weed, but I’ve always been fond of it. And I’ve never really understood why we don’t consider it vase-worthy.

From the roadside, fields of henbit resemble Oregon lavender fields. Or a Monet painting hanging somewhere far from the Delta.

No doubt Monet’s Champ d’avoine is a stunning work of art, but Arkansas Delta in Purple is pretty breathtaking too.

Athelstan, Mississippi Co, Arkansas

Henbit d’Athelstan

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Talya Tate Boerner


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

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE

and

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


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