Category: Departures
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Tasks that Need Doing & Thinking of Market Days
We’re always pretty busy around here, but during market season it’s busier still. There’s products to package, and things to do around the homestead. Well, the task list of things to do around the homestead never ends, but some things move up on the priority list as they get more irritating to deal with. Here’s…
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Rural Life in the Ozarks | Winter
I love our rural life in the Ozarks, where everything urban is at least 45 minutes away, and there’s a long dirt road to get to pavement. The wildlife and scenery inspire me on a daily basis. But it has its challenges, too. It’s a good idea to be informed about this if you’re considering…
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Running Errands, Preparing for Bad Weather
The approaching weekend and the week after has foreboding forecasts, so today I spent the day running errands. And preparing for bad weather. That usually means COLD weather out here. The only other thing we get during warmer months is lots of rain, and that’s much easier to deal with. We just stay home when…
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Cutting Firewood, an Endless Homestead Task
Christmas day is done. Now I’m having a cup of hot tea and writing about firewood, one of our endless homestead tasks, and thinking of 2024.
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An Herbal Remedy for Winter Crud featuring Mullein, Beebalm, and Echinacea
Here’s my recipe for an herbal remedy I use every year to combat what we’ve come to call “Winter Crud”. We also take it at the first sign of anything that feels like trouble coming on. This year’s formula uses mullein, echinacea, ginseng, and beebalm.
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My Real Name: Roxann Riedel
Today I went to the Madison County Sheriff’s office to get fingerprinted. I expected to have black finger tips all day, but they don’t do it with ink pads anymore. They use something like a scanner instead, so that was interesting. I’ve never spent that much time so close to jail cells before. Of course,…
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Hiking up the Mountain
This morning I went hiking up the mountain to check on our water tank. It’s been very dry here for the whole summer, and the recent rains haven’t added anything to the creeks. The creeks are almost completely dry. Every few days I check the few watering holes left to make sure the horses have…
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Making a Temporary Fix in the Morning, Painting in the Afternoon
I was mending fences with a temporary fix in the morning, painting in the afternoon, and keeping a close eye on Rob in between.
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Stonework is Also Artwork
These are the bulbs of green onions, or shallots. My original start of them came from my grandfather’s garden. He was getting rid of them because he didn’t like the wide leaves and preferred green onions with narrow leaves.
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When Life Throws a Curveball
Little things crop up unexpectedly from time to time, like a hailstorm in late May or squirrels eating all of the pears when they’re almost ripe. Sometimes life throws a big curveball, though. Such an event happened here at Wild Ozark late Monday evening. Rob and I have been working to get his first row…
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Long Dirt Road: Why it Takes me an Hour to Drive 12 Miles
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by
This is a post from a few years ago that I love, so I’m reposting it. We live down a long dirt road. This little facet of our lives is the main thing that makes or breaks most newcomers to rural life. It takes a long time to go anywhere, if you go slow enough…
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A Yellow Paint Experiment | Lake pigment from thyme
Back when I made my very first set of paints, I had a really nice yellow. I’d made several yellows from various plants and did lightfast tests on them. All failed except for the one, gorgeous yellow. Not only did it pass, the yellow color actually intensified with the light exposure. At that time, I…
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Art Inspiration Moments on a Non-Art-Making Day
Even in a day full of non-art related tasks, there can be moments of art inspiration.
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Musings from an Ozark nature artist
I’m at an ‘in between’ time at the moment. Between rain showers and rainy days, between things scheduled on my calendar. And since I just finished a painting, I’m between paintings, too. But this is a great time for an Ozark nature artist to get out and enjoy some nature.
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Plant Walk & Nature Journaling at Wild Ozark
There are other plant walks in Arkansas, but this one is probably a little different. The trails we’ll follow are deer trails and logging roads. The drive to get here is gorgeous. And the biodiversity here at Wild Ozark is incredible. Our 160 acres is far off of the beaten path six miles from pavement.…
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Ozark Winter Storm | Jan 24 2023
Progress on my painting of Kings River in winter came to a grinding halt a few days ago when we got our first Ozark winter storm of the season. We’ve had some freezes, and a little snow, but those little incidents don’t compare. In previous years, we’ve had worse storms when not only did the…
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Weesatche, Texas | Another Farmstead Painting
I’m working on a painting for my husband’s Christmas gift. It may not be finished in time, but it won’t be too long afterwards before I’m done. It’s the house where his aunts lived in Weesatche, Texas. It was a little German settlement, with houses, businesses, and a big round gathering hall. He’s told me…
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Encroachment Goes Both Ways | Striking a Balance
Encroachment goes both ways. Sometimes humans go too far into nature, but there are times when nature invades too much on humans, too! Click through to find out what I’ve been working on toward striking that balance.
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What to buy a Nature Lover? | A One-of-a-Kind Twisted Tree Painting!
You’ll never have to agonize over what to buy a nature lover again. Get them an original painting made from a rock. No two are ever alike.
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New Acceptance: Las Laguna Art Gallery | 2020 Portrait Exhibition
I woke up this morning to an email announcing that one of my paintings had been accepted to a show. It’s good there are portrait exhibitions that allow strange paintings to hop on board. It’s no secret that I am awful at painting people, especially faces. But I have one very weird one that fits…
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Book Review | Celebrating Australia’s Magnificent Wildlife
Celebrating Australia’s Magnificent Wildlife is a beautiful book. From the cover jacket to every page inside, it is a visual treat and delight that will mesmerize wildlife and art lovers from any continent. The author and artist shares with us her journey, and as a reader who is also both and artist and author, I…
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Pivot to Online Art | Stocking the shelves | Art Prints for Sale
Artists everywhere are trying to develop a way to market online art. Here’s the update on my own effort to stock the Wild Ozark Art shelves.
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Coronavirus Hermit| Fences, Gardens, Memories & Lilacs
One day I’ll change the title of this from ‘Coronavirus Hermit’ to plain old ‘Wild Ozark Hermit’ journal entries. I’m digging the staying at home deal, to tell you the truth. The only drawback is that there’s limited outlets for making an income from out here, but I’ve been working on stocking my online shop…
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Coronavirus Hermit | Journal Entry for the week of 032020
So what does a hermit do with her time during coronavirus slow downs? Pretty much the same thing I’ve always done with my time out here. Except now with less internet useage, ha. And there’s an extra little body in the house to be a hermit with during this whole coronavirus deal. We’re coronavirus hermits.…
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The Bear Issue with Our Spring-fed Water Line
So I’ve done a good job of making sure the water is dripping on the cold nights and so far so good with not letting the lines freeze. But this afternoon my water at the kitchen faucet surprised me with only a very thin stream. Not even enough to rinse out my coffee cup. After…