Neighbors

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.

Spend any amount of time raising cattle and eventually most people will end up with a bottle calf. It’s a typical occurrence. The cow, maybe a first-calf heifer, doesn’t accept the newborn or maybe she isn’t giving enough milk.

Twin sisters Sharon Jolley-Ballowe and Karen Jolley-Leighton have a lot in common. They live five miles apart from each other in Rogersville, Mo., in Greene County. They each have a son (Kolbey, Sharon’s son, is 5 and Connor, Karen’s son, is 10). And not only do the Jolley twins look alike, they both share the same passion for Missouri Fox Trotters.

According to 80-year-old Claude Nolan of Rogers, Ark., the public has him overrated. But according to his close friend, Brentley Wilkerson of Pea Ridge, Ark., Claude is still the best cow-buyer Brentley’s ever seen.

John Paul and Cissie Pendergrass, from Charleston, Ark., met at the University of Arkansas during an Alpha Gamma Rho and Kappa Alpha function. John Paul quipped, “I immediately changed her into my way of thinking, and we’ve gone on from there.” They are avid Razorback fans and consider their attendance at games as their common hobby.

Van Hopkins was raised on an Oklahoma farm in a family where everyone worked together. They had 15 Hereford cows, all of which they milked to get enough milk for the family because grandma always said, “You can’t make any money with milking stock.” The family also tried to take care of most of their protein needs with the addition of hogs and laying chickens.

The farm of Randy and Cheryl West is in a serene section of the Viney Grove area in Prairie Grove, Ark. The tract was originally purchased by Robert West just before the Civil War and has been in West hands ever since. Randy and Cheryl’s twin daughters were the fifth generation to be raised on the farm.

No matter how fast-paced and full her life sometimes becomes, Chloe Iiams is never far from tranquility.

Jim and Vali Suddarth of rural Camden County, breeders of gaited Morgan horses, are an extraordinary couple in many ways. Both are self-proclaimed ‘horse nuts’ which they admit is a good thing as a married couple. “We know others where only the man or woman is horse crazy and that makes it hard on the couple as one is often riding and the other is waiting around, trying to understand this strange attraction.” Anyone who has ever known someone afflicted with this particularly delightful compulsion understands.

Jim Pipkin is the fourth generation to farm his family’s farm, which dates back to 1856 just west of Springfield, Mo. Jim’s parents, W.D. and Bonita Pipkin still reside on the farmstead and play an active part in the day-to-day farm chores.