Arkansas Neighbors

Unlike so many people who live here, Philip and Connie Swan have no history of family or previous ties to the Ozarks. Phil said, “I had always heard that the Ozarks was a nice place to retire. Plus we were both ‘country’ to start with and didn’t want to be in the city anymore.” With encouragement from some friends who knew about the area, Connie went online and started looking. They decided to check out the Ozarks prior to their retirement. They ended up in Branson, Mo., and started looking around with the help of a real estate agent. The Lead Hill area of Boone County, Ark., caught their eye. The first piece of property they saw was the 33 acres they bought.

Many people wish to actually retire around age 55. Not so for Lee and Linda Ragains of Sallisaw, Okla. While it’s true that Lee retired from veterinary practice in Nebraska, he and Linda buy ranches and improve them for resale while running their registered Longhorn operation. They have 200 head made up of 120 momma cows and seven bulls with the rest being calves and yearlings. Two previous spreads were a 1,400-acre ranch in Duncan, Okla., and a 1,780-acre ranch in Lynchburg, Mo.

The Burnetts live way out in the hills of Madison County even though their postal address is Winslow, Ark. Destry and Shannon Burnett homeschool their daughters: Sagely, 11, Sierra, 10 and the youngest Sicily is 5. Shannon and her three daughters consider themselves the four “s’s.”

The Billie Blevins farm in Boone County is a rare place for the Ozarks. His 128-acre cattle farm is almost flat. No hills, no hollers, just good flat ground. Billie was born in the area and has owned the property where they live since 1957. Just a few years later he and his new bride, Dorothy, built a house and moved on the place. They’ve now been married 52 years, raised three children and are still in the same house after all these years.

Russ and Marla Jones are partners with Marla’s parents Jerry and Shirley Green in a diverse, small acreage farming operation in Muldrow, Okla. The farm includes dairy goats, Boer goats, chickens, St. Croix hair sheep and Jersey cows that supply area residents with milk, milk products and meat. Other family members are also involved causing Russ to comment, “This is as communal as you can be in the United States without raising eyebrows. We all work together.”

Gene and Dianna Buffington live on a 530-acre ranch in Watts, Okla., on land that once belonged to Gene’s parents. They also have 30 acres in Siloam Springs, Ark., that is Dianna’s.

David and Rita Stratton’s farm is nestled in the woods and hills of Cookson, Okla. They are currently remodeling David’s boyhood home with the intention of turning it into a bed and breakfast and then building themselves a smaller home nearby.

Roy and Beth Kibbe from near Mulberry, Ark., have taken full advantage of the second chances they’ve been given. Today, they raise around a dozen Santa Gertrudis and Black Angus cross cattle on 15 acres in eastern Crawford County, but six years ago, Roy’s diagnosis of cancer put everything else on hold.

Tucked into the hills outside Lincoln, Ark., right near the Oklahoma border is Salem Springs Stables, home to Michael and Mary Pinkerton and their three children: Mary Kathryn Bryant age 17, Jared Bryant age 14, and Ava age 5. The homestead is 250 acres with a large valley pasture below the house nudging a gentle creek up against the steep hill that provides the backdrop for the tranquil view.

A popular phrase in the growing sustainable agriculture movement is “farm to table.” Mark Garner and Karen Hill, owners of Garner Hill Farm, are taking that phrase literally. Their goal is to raise naturally grown animals for their own consumption and for the good health and enjoyment of others.