grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

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

Johnny Cash: Restoration of Childhood Home, Dyess, Arkansas

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An amazing number of famous people came from the tiny little corner of Northeast Arkansas that I call home. Parhaps Mark Twain’s mighty Mississippi was an inspiration. Or maybe the smell of crop defoliant whips up the creative juices. Possibly the most notable resident of Mississippi County was Johnny Cash who rose from modest roots to become one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century.

Arkansas State University now owns the Cash home, and restoration efforts are underway. Fans will soon be able to visit his childhood home in Dyess, Arkansas, a small town located along the Arkansas Delta Byways. 
The community of Dyess itself is history lesson, planned as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal Program. Five hundred poverty-stricken farm families were given a new start with a twenty or forty acre farm, a five-room, white-washed farmhouse, adjacent barn, outhouse, and chicken coop. Only white families of “good moral background” were selected. Each farmer drew an initial advance to purchase the property along with a mule, cow, groceries and supplies until the first year’s crop came in, at which time it was paid back. In three years’ time, the farmer received the deed to the house and land. The Cash family got in on this new deal.

The forty acre farm immediately adjacent to the Johnny Cash place is owned by my good moral farm family (on the other side of Johnny Cash’s temporary chain link fence). We didn’t get the land from President Roosevelt. Daddy bought it outright years ago from an attorney who took the land in trade for legal fees. 

In addition to the home restoration, Arkansas State has plans to construct a museum and renovate much of the town of Dyess. The restoration buzz continues to grow. I imagine convoys of people making this pilgrimage to a place we Mississippi County residents knew was special all along.

These are exciting times for Northeast Arkansas!

talya
Grace Grits & Gardening

That Bookstore in Blytheville

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Mary Gay Shipley has my dream job. She is the proprietor of That Bookstore in Blytheville near my hometown.  I recall in the mid-1970s when she first opened the store, it was The Book Rack.  At that time, it was more of a used book exchange.  Nearly every week, my mother walked into The Book Rack with a stack of paperbacks to trade and walked out with a new stack of volumes to read, fueling my addiction at a very early age. Of course, this was after an hour of browsing and chatting with the ladies there, who could always make wonderful reading recommendations over a cup of coffee. The book exchange idea proved to be a great recycling program, if you are one of those people who can let go of a book. I cannot.

For years, everyone simply referred to The Book Rack as “that bookstore in Blytheville“. I suppose Mary Gay decided to go with the flow, as eventually she officially renamed it. I doubt I have ever been to Blytheville without stopping there. It’s actually the reason to go to Blytheville. It’s a destination, not just a quick side trip on the way home from someplace else.

A few of my signed first editions.

Shiny, Clean, Aligned, Happy 

Mary Gay has attracted many impressive southern authors to book signings and readings, thus I have amassed quite an impressive collection of signed first editions.  I treasure these books. When our house nearly flooded a few years ago, I was fully prepared to strap a bookcase on my husband’s back, if necessary. I have many, many more autographed books than shoes. It’s not even close. 

If I ever move back home to Mississippi County, I plan to occupy the storefront until Mary Gay agrees to hire me. I have thought this through and feel certain that it would be to her advantage. She needs an understudy.  She has earned an understudy – someone who appreciates all things southern like whipping up the perfectly balanced pitcher of mint juleps or executing a successful late evening snipe hunt among friends.  
Most of my shoes.
Faded, Dirty, Jumbled, Sad
I would cheerfully fetch John Grisham from the airport for his book signing events, engage him in clever conversation about soybean futures and discuss his latest protagonist during the drive to Blytheville. 

One day I hope to see my own book for sale on the shelves at That Bookstore in Blytheville complete with an endearing quote from Mary Gay Shipley on the back cover. That is on the very TOP of my bucket list. (The understudy position is a teeny bit further down.) But honestly, I’m not a stalker, just a fan. I swear.

talya

Grace Grits & Gardening

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!