A Familiar Path

I was recently invited to attend a blogger event called Bean2Blog at P. Allen Smith’s house in Rolland, Arkansas. I really didn’t know what Bean2Blog was. I did know that Mr. Smith did a lot with chickens and went hoping to see his chicken set up and learn more about that.

Chickens are important to Mr. Smith, but so are soybeans and that’s what we learned about at Bean2Blog.

They call it The Miracle Bean because of its many uses from food, candles to insulation and biofuel.

During lunch we heard from West Higginbothom who is a third generation farmer in Lee Country. He told us how he went from working in Washington D.C. to moving back home to join his parent’s farming operation because that’s where he wanted to raise his kids.

We got to tour Mr. Smith’s gardens where he has created what he calls outdoor rooms. It was so inspirational to see how he has arranged and created his garden spaces. It made me want to go home and plant a bunch of things symmetrically.

He has trained his fruit trees to grow in this beautiful formation. When some of them died one year, they removed the corpses and hung them in his barns as art.

What I loved about the gardens and home on Moss Mountain was that there was so much to see and learn. It made me imagine how much more my own living spaces (indoors and out) could be. I love Mr. Smith’s connection to Arkansas history and his commitment to preserving that through his own home, education, and even through the Heritage Poultry Conservancy.

We also toured the house, which could be its own post. My mind is still swirling with the beautiful spaces we saw.

If you get a chance you should take the time to tour his home and gardens. You’ll come back inspired.

P. Allen Smith put together a special ebook featuring ideas and recipes for using soy. Go here to view the ebook and get some new ideas.

Slow like a turtle

Melissa Stover — Wed, 15 May 2013 05:33:15 +0000

My daughter told me she found a turtle the dogs were barking at. She carried it to the edge of the woods and let it go. I told her I wanted to see it and we walked to where she left it. She was surprised it wasn’t still right there. How long ago did you leave it, I asked. Just a few minutes, she said. Turtles can move pretty quick when they want to, I told her.

When people ask me what we’ve been up to, the question that usually follows, How have you been doing? I find myself without an answer, or maybe without a good one. We have been doing a fair amount of baseball, but it’s manageable. We spend a bit of time doing school. We run errands and have doctor’s appointments just like the rest of the world. We try to spend some time with friends, walk our dogs, go to the library, have our family over for lunch on Sunday, and have a meal at a restaurant now and then.

And yet I still find plenty of time to meander, to hide in my shell when I need to.

We’ve spent a lot of quality time bird watching and some time bird drawing, but sometimes just sitting on the porch watching cars go by. We’re reading aloud a new book, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and I find plenty of time to watch Mad Men once or twice each week. Sometimes it deserves a second viewing. We eat supper together and some nights we make dessert too.

Often the house is too messy, the laundry is behind, and the groceries disappear entirely too fast.

The kids get loud, they fuss, I can’t wait for them to go to sleep. I count the minutes.

Then the next day the sun shines, a breeze blows, they drag out sheets and blankets and make a tent in the yard, have friends over. And all afternoon I hear laughter while I change out laundry and sit on the porch, and for a moment I know what we’ve been up to all along is the magic of a slow, beautiful life.

Stuff to read around the net

Melissa Stover — Fri, 10 May 2013 04:08:00 +0000

Turn your Instagram Photos Into Magnets, Mommies With Style. I really want to do this, but magnets on my new stainless steel refrigerator (is it really? it’s magnetic.) leave a rusty mark.

Books About Zelda Fitzgerald, Great Thoughts. If you’re going to see The Great Gatsby, you might want to check these out. And have I told you how much I hate it when a movie comes out about an old book and then everyone wants to read the old book all at the same time? I hate that. I also hate that I want to read it again too. I really dislike following the crowd.

New Eyes, The Handmade Home. Good read.

AWBU 2013 Keynote Speaker, Arkansas Women Bloggers. This year I’m attending the Arkansas Women Bloggers Conference and Boomama is going to be the keynote speaker. I’m so excited to get to meet her. Have you heard about her new book? You can read the first chapter here.

I’ll also be attending the Bean2Blog event at the home of P. Allen Smith at Moss Mountain Farm. I’m excited about meeting so many other Arkansas bloggers and seeing his beautiful farm.

Bird obsession

Melissa Stover — Thu, 09 May 2013 03:46:02 +0000

We put three seed feeders out this spring and now we are obsessed with watching our birds every single day.

I am amazed at how many have shown up, how they always show up in pairs, and how they fluctuate.

One week we had tons of goldfinch. So many I couldn’t count them all.

Lately we’ve had either purple finch or house finch. I haven’t been able to tell them apart.

But we’ve also seen a few at a time: doves, blue jays, cardinals, an indigo bunting, a rose-breasted grosbeak, tufted titmice, and even a Northern Oriole (first time ever for me to see that one).

It’s such a delight to watch these small creatures go about their day. When we sit out on the porch they scatter to a nearby tree and we try to spot them all in the hidden branches. Then, slowly, if we are quiet, they brave the feeders again we get to see them close up.

We are awed that they allow us such a close look. And if you notice in almost all my pictures they are looking right at me. They see me just as I see them.

Several years ago my husband bought me the Reader’s Digest Book of North American Birds and that’s what I’ve always used to identify birds. It’s a great resource with a little bit of information about each bird, their location, details about their eggs and incubation. My kids have used it a ton too. We also do a lot of our bird drawings from this book.

What birds are you seeing in your part of the world?