Missouri Neighbors

Taressa Rankin of rural Lebanon, Mo., is a young wife and mother, who refers to herself as an aspiring horsewoman.

When people think of having a farm, a mushroom farm is probably not one of the first things to come to mind.

At 18 hands, hooves the size of dinner plates and weighing more than a ton each, Lightning and Titan are the size of small elephants. Capable of pulling 10,000 pounds each, these Shire horses hardly feel the light carriage behind them as they walk through a brightly lit Christmas display in Branson, Mo.

The scientific method is more than just a concept learned in science class for Jacob Noblitt, a junior at Bolivar High School and a member of the Bolivar FFA Chapter in Bolivar, Mo.

Semper Fidelis Ranch at the apex of Laclede, Dallas and Camden counties, actually lies in rural Camden County along the southern county line.

Environmental sustainability is the driving force behind the changes in diesel implement technology with the increasing number of agricultural machines being used in the field each year.

Many young people have things they think they would like to be – astronauts, big league ball players or a circus clown. But there are a few exceptional young men who know exactly what they want to do.

Dan Bigbee prefers to communicate with nature more than with strangers, but when you get him talking about urban farming, he has plenty to say.

Winemaking has been around for perhaps as long as 6,000 years. Winemaking in Missouri dates back to the mid-1800s when Germans populated the Hermann, Mo., area, bringing grape varieties with them. For a time, Missouri ranked among the top states for wine production.

Back in 1926, Larry Cleveland’s grandfather, Lawrence Bailliere, moved to Richland, Mo., from Oklahoma to start a trout hatchery, buying 97 acres with a natural spring.