Arkansas Neighbors

Lew and Jackie Thompson are just beginning to develop a registered Angus herd on family land in Huntsville, Ark.

Earl and Othenia (Hughes) Burkes operate a 364-acre farm 11 miles south of Huntsville, Ark., on War Eagle Creek, most of which has been in Othenia’s family for 165 years. They live on and also operate another 340-acre farm just north of Huntsville, Ark. The Arkansas Agricultural Department presented a Century Farm plaque certifying continuous family ownership of the south farm back to 1845.

High school sweethearts Brett and Andrea Nall married soon after high school and graduated from Arkansas Tech University. One goal was for Brett to be able to farm full time, even though they had to start from scratch. For a number of years they lived on a small 13-acre farm in Spring Valley, Ark., where they raised a small commercial cattle herd and horses. Brett had already learned “cow stuff” like AI and was a farrier for 15 years while Andrea taught school.

The modern definition of homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency.

Some families do everything they can in order to take charge of the future and ensure that farms stay within their family.

When James Mast left Ohio for warmer weather and a smaller community at 19, he had no idea he would end up being a turkey farmer in Huntsville, Ark.

Chad Lepley wants to take his new farm in a lot of different directions.

Brian Palmer is the fifth-generation of his family on their farmstead, east of Miami, Okla.

On a Monday in early October, 40 people met at the Pauline Whitaker Center in Fayetteville, Ark., for the seventh Moms on the Farm Tour.

Northwest Arkansas is growing and becoming more metropolitan each year. Part of this phenomenon is smaller towns surrounding the Fayetteville-Springdale, Ark., area becoming more urban, rather like suburbs, unlike the completely rural towns they once were.