Karen Almeter
Hometown: Anderson, Mo., near what used to be the little community of New Bethel.
Family: Husband, Bernie; two grown sons, Curtis and Tim
In Town: “I teach for Crowder College in their Adult Education and Literacy program and have for the last 10 years. I also am the founder and director for the New Bethel School Preservation Association, which we incorporated in 2011. My husband works as a lab tech for the city of Bentonville (Ark.).
“We moved here from Colorado in 1984 and I always was fond of the little old schoolhouse down the road from our property. The school was built in 1917 and still had the old chalk boards, outhouses and old well, which didn’t work. One milestone was to get the well working again with the original pump.”
In the Country: “We moved here because we wanted enough land to raise some animals and garden,” Karen said.
Their little hobby farm of 25 acres currently supports about 10 Jacob sheep, seven Toggenburg goats and variety of chickens.
“We had a milk cow but found that goats are easier to handle,” she said.
When asked what her vision and passion is behind the hobby farm and the little school house project, Karen replied, “I believe that it is very important to preserve the old ways of life and teach the younger generations how things used to be done in the country. I make soap from the goat milk, we sell eggs when we have a surplus and I do demonstrations on sheep shearing and spinning wool. I have given demonstrations at Harbor Village near Grove and a local teacher brought her gifted students out to the school for demonstrations.”
Her passion to preserve the ways of our country ancestors has made their hobby farm livestock and the little school house a classroom adventure for the future generations whom she hopes to reach. They recently planted a large garden at the school and use their animals for educational demonstrations whenever the opportunity presents itself. Karen plans to apply for educational grants in the future to expand their unique vision to preserve history of farm life.
