Osceola - grace grits and gardening

there’s no place like home

February 12, 2016 By Talya Tate Boerner 17 Comments

There’s no place like home, that’s for sure. And oh my goodness, so far my week back home in Mississippi County has been so much fun and a whirlwind of activity. I was invited to speak at the Osceola Rotary Club on Tuesday and they fed me very well. They made me promise to return each time I publish a book, so I best get busy with my next one. Books = Rotary Spaghetti with a side of homemade blackberry cobbler, and that’s a yummy thing.

I met lots of people and saw a few folks I hadn’t seen in years, like my high school guidance counselor, Mr. Rogers Ford.

And speaking of high school, I returned to mine (Rivercrest High School, go Colts!!!) to present a book to the library. That was very cool because I spent so much time in that library.Continue Reading

hometown charm

February 9, 2016 By Talya Tate Boerner 10 Comments

It feels surreal to be home, home on the farm (cue Home on the Range) and see my picture plastered all over town and all over the house. There’s some hometown charm going on, and I owe a big thank you to Jason Stark of Osceola Printing for the eye-popping posters and flyers. Not only did he create the design, he handled the project from start to finish in a matter of hours during a time when I couldn’t think straight. Sometimes the right person appears at exactly the right time. And, yes, a professional makes all the difference.

Being from a small town is a great thing.Continue Reading

Save the Osceola Courthouse.

September 16, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner 10 Comments

Hey y’all. I’m excited that my first article as a regular contributor for Delta Crossroads is included in the Fall 2015 issue. It’s an opinion piece on saving the Osceola Courthouse, a gorgeous Classic Revival masterpiece that deserves at a minimum a discussion about its value to the city beyond dollars.

A snippet from the article:

Antique bricks and mortar, a shimmering copper dome high above the oak trees—the Osceola Courthouse is so much more than the structure itself. The courthouse marks the centerpiece of the square, the town’s greatest landmark.

Osceola, named for Chief Osceola of the Seminole tribe, became the county seat of Mississippi County (located in Northeast Arkansas) near the end of the nineteenth century. In 1900, Osceola was a boomtown, a stop on the main line of the St. Louis-San Francisco “Frisco” Railway. The downtown area bustled with two ice plants, two bottling works, a wagon factory, and electric and water utilities. The town even boasted an opera house. Fancy.

To read the entire article online, click HERE. (Be sure to read all the articles—this month’s issue is dedicated to fall and harvest. The Save the Osceola Courthouse article can be found on pages 27-30.)

AND, for those of you interested in my soon-to-be published book, Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee, there’s a surprise on page 32.