Arkansas Crunchy Catfish

August is National Catfish Month. U.S. catfish farmers took it on the chin about 10 years ago when cheap, low-quality, Asian “catfish” flooded the U.S. market. That’s changed for the better as consumers became educated and quickly realized how much better quality U.S. farm-raised catfish is. When grocery shopping for catfish, always ask for and […]

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Recipe: A Pecan Month Mouthful

The South’s native nut is a favorite any time of the year By Gregg Patterson I dare you. Place out a bowl of salted maple-glazed pecans (see recipe below) when hosting guests, and see how long it takes before it’s empty. The pecan is by far the most popular of America’s commercially grown, edible native […]

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What is Community Supported Agriculture?

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. CSAs are one way for you to support the farmers in your community by buying seasonal produce directly from the farmer. Often it’s more affordable for the consumer and more profitable for the farmer because you’re cutting out expenses such as store costs and packaging. CSA is basically a […]

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13 Things You Didn’t Know Were Made From Sweet Potatoes

February 22 is National Cook a Sweet Potato Day, and we wanted to recognize the fact that Arkansas is one of the country’s top producers of these healthy, delicious vegetables. Records from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture show that farmers in eight counties grew sweet potatoes on 5,000 acres in 2017, a crop valued at […]

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Harvesting and Processing Muscadine Grapes

Six generations of the Post family have been making juice and wine in Arkansas for more than 100 years. You can learn more about them here. Earlier this month, Post Winery in Altus completed its muscadine harvest and processing of the grapes to make juice and wine. Watch the videos to see and hear how […]

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Growing Sweet Potatoes Part 2

Shawn Peebles of Woodruff is one of a select group of sweet potato growers in Arkansas and the only grower of organic sweet potato growers in the state. He and other sweet potato farmers are busy harvesting their crop in time to get them to grocery stores for the holiday meal season. In this second […]

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Growing Sweet Potatoes Part 1

Fall is officially here, but, in typical Arkansas fashion, it doesn’t quite feel like it yet. Nevertheless, Thanksgiving will be here in no time, and that means it’s also “sweet potato season.” Growers like Shawn Peebles of Woodruff are busy pulling their crop from the ground in time to get them to groceries and on […]

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Lock, Stock & Barrel: The Ralstons, Part 2

Tim and Robin Ralston saw an opportunity in milling and packaging their own rice, but that opportunity was a huge risk. It still is, but they are feeling good about their decision. Tim says they mill everything they grow. “But when you stack it up against some of the big corporate mills, it’s really very, […]

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Lock, Stock & Barrel: Ralstons Aim for Farm-to-Table Rice

Ralston Family Farms  is unique. When it comes to rice, it’s a “vertically integrated farm.” What’s that you might ask? It simply means they grow, mill, package, market, sell and ship the rice. Everything is done from the farm. It’s the closest thing to farm-to-table you can get without having Tim and Robin cook and […]

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