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Currents April-May 2014

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Lifestyles magazine for residents of Carroll County, Arkansas, and the surrounding area, including Eureka Springs, Berryville, Green Forest, and Holiday Island
36
Hippie movement’s dream still alive, well in Carroll County WHEN GREEN (FOOD) IS GREAT PRESERVING PRISTINE OZARK LAND NEW ‘GREEN ACRES’ REPORT
Transcript
Page 1: Currents April-May 2014

Hippie movement’s dream still alive, well in Carroll County

WHENGREEN (FOOD)

IS GREAT

PRESERVING PRISTINE

OZARK LAND

NEW ‘GREEN ACRES’

REPORT

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fax: (870) 423-6105

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April/May 2014 | Currents | 3

Currents C

ontents

What’s Inside

6 10 12Back to the LandThe Schwerin family’s Sycamore Bend Farm practices sustainable agriculture, bringing food – and great lessons – to Eureka Springs and beyond.

Unwanted here!Five common garden pests and how to rid yourself of them while remaining kind to Mother Earth.

A Familiar FeelingHeavy on art, natural beauty, history and springs, the Spa City and its quirky-fun events make for a great getaway.

Cover Story Green Acres On the Road Again

18 20 22Pushing the BookBonnie Roediger’s local Bible-reading marathons give birth to a new global evangelical effort.

When Going ‘Green’ Gets Really Good Fayetteville’s Greenhouse Grille sets the standard for Earth-friendly eating.

Form & FunctionMaster Potters prepare to stage a show during May Festival of the Arts.

Finding Faith Table for Two

24 30 32Preserving Pristine Ozarks LandNative American woman protects area natural resources while using them to help mankind.

A Favorite, Flexible Side Staple Quick Potato Casserole easy to prepare – and easy to alter to fit your family’s needs.

Taking the Next StepThree-part series looks at how a few area pros took their shutterbug habit and turned a hobby into a career.

Arts Scene

Cookbook Corner Art of the LensHelping Hands

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PUBLISHER

Bob Moore

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Kristal Kuykendall

[email protected]

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

David Bell

[email protected]

ART DIRECTOR

Melody Rust

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Kristal Kuykendall

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES

Jim Sexton

Karen ‘MaDank’ Horst

Diane Newcomb

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

David Bell

Jennifer Jackson

Catherine Krummey

Jim Fain

Mary Ann Bell

PHOTOGRAPHERS

David Bell

Charles Henry Ford II

TO ADVERTISE

(870) 423-6636

MAILING ADDRESS:

P.O. Box 232, Berryville AR 72616

Currents is published semi-monthly and

distributed free in Berryville, Eureka Springs,

Green Forest, Holiday Island and throughout

Carroll and surrounding counties.

Currents is a joint publication of Carroll

County News, Lovely County Citizen and

Rust Communications.

Copyright 2014

CurrentsA magazine dedicated to Carroll Countians

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program can change your life for the better!$10 Donation per person Requested

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CALL 479-253-5008EVERYONEWELCOME

Page 5: Currents April-May 2014

April/May 2014 | Currents | 5

Ed

itor’s NoteThis edition of Currents is our an-

nual Mother Earth issue, where-in we celebrate Earth Month and take a peek at some of the many

local people and organizations working toward sustainable development – that is, “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” as defined by the United Nations’ Brundtland Commission of 1987.

Sustainable development is an orga-nizing principle for human life on a finite planet – one that we should all strive to live by if we care at all about our grandchildren and their grandchildren and what kind of Earth we leave for them.

Sustainable development ties together concern for the carrying capacity of the natural systems existing on our planet with the social and economic challenges faced by humanity. As early as the 1970s, “sus-tainability” was employed to describe an economy “in equilibrium with basic eco-logical support systems.”

Sustainability efforts and methods can be seen (or unfortunately ignored) in all areas of human life today, from how we use our natural resources such as air, water, and food, to how we build and maintain our shelters; from how we practice agricultur-al, to how we capture and use energy; from how we make the most of our environment without harming it, to how we manufac-ture and move the products we use in daily living. There are even schools of sustainable architecture (aiming to limit and eventual-ly eradicate suburban sprawl, for example), corporate sustainability, sustainable trans-portation and sustainable economics.

But it all comes down to this: Sustain-able development aims to manage natural, produced, and social capital for the welfare of their own and future generations. It begs us to ask ourselves, and responsibly answer, the following questions: Are we taking care of what’s provided by Mother Earth so that we don’t ruin it or use it all up? And are tak-ing care of what we are adding to the Planet so that we don’t ruin our natural resources or use them all up?

Our Cover Story this week takes a look at a local example of a family working to

employ sustainable agriculture every day – to the benefit of not only that family and their land, but all the people who consume the food produced there.

Sustainable agriculture may be defined as consisting of environmentally friendly methods of farming that allow the produc-tion of crops or livestock without damage to human or natural systems. More specifi-cally, it might be said to include preventing adverse effects to soil, water, biodiversity, surrounding or downstream resources – as well as to those working or living on the farm or in neighboring areas. Further-more, the concept of sustainable agricul-ture extends to passing on a conserved or improved natural resource and economic base instead of one that has been depleted or polluted.

Indeed, as Kathryn Lucariello writes in the Cover Story beginning on Page 6, the growing toxicity of the environment and the food supply, along with disillusion with society’s direction in a consumeristic direc-tion, is prompting many people, including young people like Andrew and Madeleine Schwerin, to go “Back to the Land.”

The Schwerins of Sycamore Bend Farm in rural Eureka Springs lease 10 acres, own and run a sustainable, organic farm and live in a yurt, where they are raising their young daughter with fresh air, healthy food, farm animals and clean dirt.

Operating with a similar mission is Greenhouse Grille in Fayetteville, a pop-ular, award-winning modern eatery that “takes a conscious approach to managing and procuring resources,” from serving as much organic and locally grown produce and all-natural, locally raised meats as pos-sible to growing their own organic herbs, using green soaps and paper products, recycling, composting and installing ener-gy-efficient lighting.

Greenhouse Grille is featured in this edition’s Table For Two restaurant review, beginning on Page 20.

First opened in 2006 in the 1,300-square-foot building adjacent to Pizza Hut where Archibald Yell Boulevard meets South School, co-owners Clayton Suttle and Jer-rmy Gawthrop soon saw they’d found a recipe for success, and they moved into the

3,000-square-foot building that originally housed Le Maison de Tartes about a block down South School. The “new” location seats up to 128 patrons and employs 34 people and is enjoying enormous success, thanks to the many Earth-conscious con-sumers of the region who also enjoy deli-cious food.

For some, protecting Mother Earth is a way of life, literally, as it is for Native Amer-ican Maria Christina Moroles, also known as “Águila,” who is matriarchal steward and president of the Arco Iris Earth Care Proj-ect in Newton County.

“This land was where, a long time ago, before white people came, medicine peo-ple from all over North America came to gather medicine. This is where a lot of the herbs and medicinal plants are that don’t grow everywhere because they have to have a specific environment,” says Águila. She is referring to 500 acres located in Newton County in Boxley near the Buffalo River, about 400 acres of which the Earth Care Project has stewardship. Read more about the Project and its matriarch on Pages 24-25 of this edition in the “Helping Hands” feature.

We hope you enjoy this edition of Cur-rents, and we pray that it inspires you to examine your own lives and find new ways big and small that we can each be better stewards of Mother Earth, protecting her for generations to come.

Letter from the editor

Managing Editor Kristal Kuykendall

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“BACK TO THE LAND” was a movement of hippies in the 1960s and ‘70s to live communally and more simply, raising food and children away from a society grown increasing materialistic and militaristic. And it was deemed to have run its course on a large scale by 1980.

But the dream never died. Society, in the minds of many, has grown even more consumeristic and militaristic, especially since the economic downturn of 2008. The growing toxicity of the environment and the food supply, along with disillusion with so-ciety’s direction, is prompting many people, including young people like Andrew and Madeleine Schwerin, to go back to the land.

The Schwerins of Sycamore Bend Farm

in rural Eureka Springs lease 10 acres, own and run a sustainable, organic farm and live in a yurt, where they are raising their young daughter with fresh air, healthy food, farm animals and clean dirt.

Andrew said he grew up in a lot of plac-es, as his family moved often, but he also learned gardening and farming skills as a boy, spending his high school years de-tassling corn, throwing hay bales and “walk-

ing the beans” in Nebraska. His family had a garden.

Andrew started college but didn’t finish, instead traveling around and working in tea houses. Dismayed with the conservative po-litical direction of the U.S., he went to New Zealand and spent a year living on farms there.

He got into gardening because he got into food and began to cook a lot at home,

Carroll Countians working hard to live the dream

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Cover Story By Kathryn Lucariello • Photos by D

avid Bell and Kathryn Lucariello

“always feeding people,” he says.He decided to give the U.S. another

chance, so he came back, looking for land that had a similar feel to New Zealand.

Andrew found it here in the Ozarks, moving to Eureka Springs five years ago af-ter several people recommended he check out the town. He moved to Eureka in July of 2008. In 2009 he began studying organ-ic farming with Patrice Gros of Foundation Farm.

In 2010 he leased some land from Gros and started his own farm, where he put up and lived in his yurt.

That was how and he and Madeleine met. A native of Jefferson City, Mo., she was go-ing to college at Hendrix in Conway, Ark., and during her freshman year she got into gardening.

“School was stressful. Gardening was relaxing,” she said. “I started learning more about food and sustainable living.”

She admits to a fantasy about “living in the woods in a cabin, with goats.”

After her sophomore year, Madeleine had some free time and wanted to learn more about gardening, so she took a class here from Gros. She and Andrew got togeth-er, though Madeleine went back to school for a semester. In December, Madeleine re-turned to the farm for good.

Her family was not too happy about it, but for Madeleine, this was her dream come true. She agrees with the statement that she chose to be happy rather than conform to the expectations of others.

She and Andrew married in December 2011. In searching for property to farm, they checked the county soil maps and found the land down around Keels Creek to be really good. An arrangement with friends to lease 10 acres became available, and they could move the yurt to the land, so they took it.

During the winter, they built their first

beds and planted seeds and seedlings. They hauled water in tanks and had it shipped in. They also tried to irrigate from Keels Creek, but that summer the creek dried up. Finally, their neighbor needed a well, so he drilled one, and the Schwerins lease water from him.

They planted a large fall garden, and, with an extended warm season, were able to get back on track. That fall they also got drip irrigation set up and built a shed, washing area and refrigerated room.

And in the midst of all this, baby Beulah May was born Sept. 28, at home, in the yurt.

In Feburary 2013, they started building their greenhouse, a geodesic dome. They had free-range chickens, shared goats with the landlords, planted blackberry and blue-berry bushes and expanded their beds.

In addition to selling at farmers’ markets, the co-op in Fayetteville and area restau-rants, last year, they began a Community

The Schwerins’ greenhouse, a geodesic dome, was constructed in a February 2013 expansion of Sycamore Bend Farm’s operations.

Madeleine Schwerin admits that when she first began learning about sustainable living, she fantasized about “living in the woods in a cabin, with goats.”

Andrew Schwerin says he learned gardening and farm-ing skills as a boy in Nebraska.

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Supported Agriculture program, which al-lows buyers to purchase a subscription to a bag of produce and other goods each week.

This “Veggie Club” program was success-ful, providing fresh vegetables to 24 house-holds over 24 weeks, and the Schwerins have continued it this year, breaking it in to three growing periods so that people can choose one, two or all three in advance rather than having to lock into an entire year.

Andrew said the CSA Veggie Club al-lows him to cut back on selling at farmers’ markets, although he will continue to sell at the Eureka Springs Farmers’ Market and the White Street Saturday Market, which he and Madeleine pioneered. The Saturday market will open on May 3 in the parking lot of Er-milio’s Restaurant.

“I like it because I can spend more time on the farm rather than selling things,” An-drew said in his farm newsletter this year, “and because we know we have a prepaid market I can grow more diverse and interest-ing produce that may not be worth growing for other markets.

“It’s rewarding to form the more ‘inti-mate’ relationships with people who are de-pending on us for their week’s produce, and for us depending on their commitment.”

Andrew said the largest part of their pro-duce goes to the Ozark Natural Foods Co-Op in Fayetteville.

“Though we get a lower price selling wholesale, the efficiency of high volume harvests and deliveries makes it our most profitable market,” he wrote. “Speaking of profit, when Madeleine and I began farming out at Patrice’s four years ago we were mak-ing about $3 an hour; it looks like we’re up

near Arkansas’ minimum wage now, which is about enough for our lifestyle.”

It’s true, they’re not getting rich, doing what they’re doing. But getting rich is not the point.

“Providing healthy food to our neighbors is why we continue growing produce,” An-drew wrote.

Andrew generously shared his financial information in the newsletter so that people can understand what it takes to run a sus-tainable, organic farm, which is expensive compared to commercially grown (with pesticides and herbicides), government-sub-sidized food sold at the grocery store. He keeps a spreadsheet of income and expenses. He said it costs around $46,000 a year to run the farm. With his spreadsheet, he can “track

and guide how much it costs us to produce and sell a bunch of carrots or any produce at a particular market. I think this information will help us reduce unproductive labor and improve our sales.”

He said it costs them $2.54 to grow a bunch of carrots, and another $1.34 to pack-age and sell them at a farmers’ market, where they charge an average of $3.42 for that bunch. That’s a 46-cent loss.

“Obviously we need to grow with less expenses, raise our prices, or stop growing carrots.”

But costs vary a great deal, depending on the produce, he said. They may be able to make up in one area what they lose in an-other.

The array of products Sycamore Bend Farm sells is copious. Veggies include to-matoes, cucumbers, squash, onions, carrots, bell peppers, edamame, cantaloupe, beans, okra, basil, lettuce and other greens, peanuts, ginger, cabbage, potatoes, sweet potatoes and more.

“For our harvest, we’ll have “Mothers, Ba-bies and Berries,” he said, “and invite them to come pick berries and harvest with us.”

There is a community of young people with toddlers who are living out in the rural areas like his family, he said. He and Mad-eleine are looking at home-schooling or group-schooling Beulah with like-minded friends.

“It’s easier to raise kids with cooperation,” he said.

They also sell eggs from their 30 laying hens, cheese and milk from four goats and

Andrew Schwerin says the largest part of the farm’s produce is sold through Ozark Natural Foods.

Sycamore Bend Farm’s Veggie Club has proven enough of a success to have it again this year.

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two cows, and fish – a couple hundred tila-pia, who live in tanks in the greenhouse and the yurt.

The fish, besides providing meat, are used in an aquaponics system in the greenhouse. Adult fish live in a tank, and their waste is gravity-fed to two 4- by 16-foot beds of grav-el 1 foot deep. Bacteria colonize the gravel, turning ammonia from the fish waste into nitrates, which fertilize the plants growing in the gravel, without any soil. Byproducts from the fish waste also provide nutrients to the plants.

When the bed is filled with water, it au-tomatically empties into a sump tank with a pump that raises clean water back up to the fish tank.

“The tilapia eat mostly algae, plus some high quality fish food and dried kelp,” An-drew wrote in a tour brochure.

The greenhouse grows vegetables and fish year-round, he said.

“Aquaponics can produce eight times as much produce in the same area, provides animal protein very efficiently, and uses 90 percent less water than dirt-farming.”

But he still grows lots of produce in the dirt, he said, and prefers that. The aquapon-ics are a “nice complementary enterprise.”

And when the weather gets cold, the Schwerins also have a plastic-covered “hoop house” high tunnel that extends their grow-ing season by about three weeks.

Recently they added insulation to their yurt, which stays cool in the summer. Now it will stay warmer in the winter.

With all that they have accomplished and expanded from their original garden, if you ask Andrew what he and Madeleine are planning next, he quickly jokes, “The biggest plan is not to start another new project!”

To find out more about Sycamore Bend Farm, visit them on Facebook.

Carroll County Branch Office1204 Primrose • Berryville, Arkansas(870) 423-6114 or (888) 286-3613

www.aaanwar.org

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Myrtie Mae’s!It’s Love At First Bite At

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Don’t miss our famousSunday Brunch

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479-253-9768479-253-9768

In Best Western Inn of the OzarksHwy. 62West, Eureka Springs

In Best Western Inn of the OzarksHwy. 62West, Eureka Springs

Some of the Schwerins’ haul on its way to the Farmers’ Market in Eureka Springs

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Gardeners and small farmers often men-tion the blessing of plenty of water when they describe vegetable production here in the Ozarks. They also laugh about the mercurial character of

our soil. “You can find yourself standing on ten feet of straight down rock,” one local farmer commented. “And if you move over a yard or two, you’ve got some of the prettiest dirt in the world. Ev-ery foot of ground here is different and surprising.”

Bugs fall into the mixed blessing category. The Ozarks provides terrific habitat for many

helpful garden creatures such as Lady-bugs, Praying Mantis and Soldier beetles, but farmers and garden-ers constantly scuffle with aphids,

Japanese and Colorado beetles, and a raft of other demoralizing veggie assassins like cutworms and cat-erpillars. The challenge is to attract good bugs and gobsmack the bad ones.

Many producers grow perennial flowers and herbs in their gardens and fields to attract the lowly but heroic Ground beetle. This voracious night stalker eats slugs, snails, cutworms, cab-bage maggots; one Ground beetle will devour more than 50 caterpillars in a single season. Lacewings, a pretty, almost transparent flyer, eats aphids, caterpillars, mealy bugs, scales, and white-flies. Plant core-opsis, cosmos, and sweet alyssum to bring them to your garden.

Andrew and Madeline Schwerin, who operate Sycamore Bend Farm on Keels Creek, work diligently to attract help-ful bugs. “ We’re planting about 10% of the garden in crops like rockcress, Shasta daisy, Siberian wallflower, sunflowers, and sweet alyssum that provide food and habitat for the good insects,” Andrew said. “We’re balancing the farm’s ecology and bringing in good bugs to eat bad bugs.”

Anything else? Andrew laughs. “If I start cursing in April and don’t give up until October they’ll leave

my garden alone for the other half of the year!” Our most prevalent garden pest is the tiny aphid,

a pear-shaped insect with long antennae and two abdominal tubes they use to suck the life out of plants. Aphids feed on plant sap, causing leaves to discolor and drop, and they leave be-hind excrement that promotes mold that can spread viral diseases. The best defense against

aphids are floating row covers. These gauzy mini-tunnels allow air, water, and up to 85 percent

of ambient light to pass through. And while they pro-vide only a few degrees of frost protection, they’re an excellent barrier against damage caused by aphids—and many other pests..

The Colorado Potato Beetle loves potatoes, but it also wrecks havoc on tomatoes, eggplants, and pep-

pers. Adults are a yellowish orange with black spots behind their heads and 10 black stripes on their wing covers. They overwinter in the soil and emerge in late spring and, here in the Ozarks, we can have as many as three generations in a single growing season. Row

covers provide good protection but gardeners can also put a heavy layer of straw mulch around

plants. The mulch is also habitat for the Colorado’s natural predators, in-

cluding ground beetles, lady bugs, and lacewings.

Another culprit on the Most Unwanted list is the all too familiar Jap-anese Beetle. Nearly every

local gardener has run into these chunky, metallic blue-green beetles as they

munch on the leaves of a broad range of plants until the plants are completely defoliated. The best defense

against the Japanese Beetle is to pick them off plants by hand and drop them into a bucket of soapy water. Jon Toombs, owner of Homestead Farms, is by train-ing an engineer and by choice a farmer. He designed a simple beetle trap, illustrated here, that catches bee-tles in the thousands. Be sure to place the trap at least 30 feet outside the garden.

Several different species of cutworms vandalize area gardens. The commonest variety is a fat, one inch long gray or black guy most active at night. Cutworms appear in early May and June. They chew stemmed

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Green A

cres By Dan Krotz

APHID

COLORADO POTATO BEETLE

JAPANESE BEETLE

CUTWORM

SQUASH BORER

Vegetables grown naturally, without pesticides, are sold at the Eureka Springs Farmers Market.

PHOTO BY STEVE SHOGREN

plants off at the ground and completely destroy small plants. The best strategy against cutworms are plant collars: cut plastic Dixie cups in half and plant seed-lings inside the cup rings.

Public Enemy Number One is the Squash Borer, which also attacks gourds and pumpkins, and methodically dec-imates Zucchini plants year after year. Squash Borers are worms that pierce the plant’s stem, and then tunnel through it, causing plants to wilt and die. Diane Schumacher, from Wildfire Farm says, “Our primary form of protection is to cov-er young plants at transplant with a light-weight floating row cover.  It keeps most of the adults from migrating in to lay eggs. 

“When the plants begin to flower, the row cover has to be removed for pollina-tion to occur.  At that point we monitor the leaves daily, top and bottom, for the copper colored eggs.  Most of the damage comes when the eggs hatch out hundreds of little hungry babies.  We crush the eggs with our fingers.”

Floating row covers, creating habitat for good bugs, and squeezing bad bugs to pulp between thumb and forefinger are all workable, effective strategies to control garden pests. Curs-ing is optional!

BEETLE TRAP

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T hough Eureka Springs is certainly won-derfully unique in its own right for any number of reasons, there is another mini-mecca of art, springs and history

in the South, and it’s Arkansas’ own Hot Springs.While Eureka holds the record for having the

most working resident artists per capita than anywhere else, Hot Springs also is known for its thriving art community, with dozens of galleries downtown, and it has been named one of Ameri-

ca’s Top Five small art destinations.The city of 35,000 is the state’s 11th largest,

and it sits deep within the Ouachita Mountains of Southwest Arkansas, situated between three lakes (Catherine, Hamilton and Ouachita) and featur-ing several natural hot springs, for which the city is obviously named. Be sure to check out Garvan Woodland Gardens, which features semi-perma-nent art installations among some of the most beautiful gardens, landscaping and outdoor ar-chitectural features you will find anywhere in the South. At Christmas, Garvan Woodland Gardens goes all out, lighting up the entire grounds along a path that requires at least two hours to walk lei-surely, so you can enjoy all the holiday light cre-

ations and installations that surround – and at times even cover – you.

The natural hot springs are generally located in the city’s downtown, and the center of that area

Heavy on art, history and springs, Hot Springs and its quirky-fun

events make for a great trip

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Lake Catherine State Park swinging bridge

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On the R

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comprises the oldest federal reserve land in U.S. history, today preserved as Hot Springs National Park. The springs there were discovered by Native American tribes in the 1700s, perceived to have supernatural healing powers for centuries after-ward. Following federal reserve designation in 1832, Hot Springs was developed into a thriving spa vacation town, with nearly a dozen bathhous-es of all kinds hosting a never-ending stream of tourists along the adeptly named Bathhouse Row along Central Avenue.

Incorporated in 1851, the city – besides being a tourism hot spot for its spas – also became a draw for its lakes, nearby rivers and mountain trails, and the burgeoning gambling industry that even-tually took hold to the point that it drew a darker element to town for a few decades. (See related article on the following page.)

Though illegal gambling was eventually erad-

icated, nowadays legalized gambling takes place at Oaklawn Park horseracing track and casino, which of course has become a huge tourist draw of its own. The 2014 racing season, which began in January, ends on Saturday, April 12 with the running of the Arkansas Derby concluding the April Racing Festival of the South stakes celebra-tion. However, the gaming rooms stay open and the simulcast horseracing and betting continue nearly all year long. www.Oaklawn.com for more information.

The city of Hot Springs also has become known as a wedding destination, with wedding chapels of

Bathhouse Row

The chapel at Garvan Woodland Gardens is breathtaking.

The Arlington Hotel, first built at three stories tall in 1875, has enjoyed three eras or lives.

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One of Hot Springs’ quirkiest traditions – besides the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s

Day Parade of course – is The Run-ning Of The Tubs, or TROTT, a bath-tub race held annually with some of the goofiest and most fun-to-watch results you can imagine.

The Eighth Annual Running of the Tubs takes place on Saturday, May 18, and anyone 18 or older can en-ter. Entries are $25 per team, and the money goes to the downtown Christmas Tree Fund. Entry fees are due by 8 a.m. May 10. (See contact info at the end of this article to get an entry form.)

Among the many arbitrary and complicated rules for The Running Of The Tubs that will be implement-ed “ruthlessly” by The Running Of The Tubs Committee (TROTTC) are these:

• The Running Of The Tubs will con-sist of five-member teams pushing bathtubs — on wheels of course — the length of Bathhouse Row in Historic Downtown Hot Springs National Park. (Any team that wants to push a tub without wheels may apply for a special “moron waiver,” officials said.)

• Any bathtub may be entered, pro-vided it is no smaller than 4 feet long and 2 feet wide.

• No motors or mechanical devices can be used to push the tub. Four members of the team must power

the tub, which will contain the fifth member, plus water.

• Of the four members pushing the tub, one must carry a large bar of soap, one must carry a nice bath mat, one must wear a loofah mitt and one must carry a bath towel.

• The fifth member of the team must be in the bathtub, taking a bath from the start of the race to the of-ficial finish line. Each team member must keep one hand on the tub at all times.

• The bathtub must be full of water at the start of the race and have at least 10 gallons of water left in the tub at the finish line. If the judges find less than 10 gallons of water left in the tub the team will be disqualified.

• All team members must be 18 or older.

• The four team members pushing the tubs must wear hats of some type and also some suspenders.

• Anything goes, including water bal-loons, costumes and race strategies.

The winning team will receive a trav-eling winner’s trophy that it will keep until the next year’s race. Individual team members will receive a trophy.

Two additional trophies will be giv-en, one for the Most Original Tub and one for the Most Humorous Tub.

For more information or an entry form, visit www.hotsprings.org, or call 501-321-2027.

all sizes and types, from traditional to hilariously kitschy, dotting the main thoroughfares of the town.

You know the old adage that says in the South you can find a liquor store and a church on every corner? Hot Springs is no exception – but you can another common-ly seen sight to that list: a delicious restaurant. The city is also known for its fine dining, with a wide variety of restaurant types in every neighborhood – yea, on nearly every corner. If you go, be sure to check out the city’s (and state’s) fine dining gem, Central Park Fusion, located at 200 Park Ave. just a few blocks from the Arlington Hotel, www.CentralParkFusion.com. Your other best dining op-tion is going to be the historic and infamous McClard’s Bar-B-Q, 505 Albert Pike Road, www.McClards.com.

For accommodations, there are loads of options, from historic, highly respected huge hotels with all the bells and whistles (The Arlington) to motels and inns, bed and breakfasts, and even lake houses, condos and townhouses for rent by the week – in addition to cabins for rent in the nearby mountains, and campgrounds all around the area, particularly on Lake Ouachita.

For more information on where to stay, what to do and where to eat, visit www.HotSprings.org.

Garvan Woodland Gardens’ art-glass exhibit is currently on display.

Central Park Fusion Chef Matt Fuller cooks up unreal deliciousness.

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On the R

oad A

gain By D

avid Bell

In Chicago the Roaring ‘20s were roar-ing at least partially because of gang-sters’ Tommy guns – or at least that seems to be a popular perception. Re-

gardless, the Al Capone era was wild, wide open and often violent. But even a gang-ster just has to get away from it all once in a while. And where did gangsters go for a little R&R? As often as not, they came to Hot Springs.

Nestled in the Ouachita Mountains, Hot Springs provided a perfect retreat for mobsters weary from the day-to-day toils of performing routine tasks – such as servicing the thirsty patrons of speakeas-ies, running the rackets, and keeping the competition in check and the Feds at bay.

Hot Springs provided a perfect place to relax and recuperate. A branch of the Rock Island and Pacific Railroad went to Hot Springs, making it easy for mobsters to go vacation in the Spa City.

One visit to Hot Springs by Capone’s Outfit happened to coincide with the visit of a heated rival, a Chicago mob organiza-tion run by Bugs Moran. To avoid a possi-bly deadly rumble in his town, the Garland County sheriff gathered representatives of the bitter-enemy groups together. He told them to enjoy the gambling, the baths, the women, and all the other offerings of the city, but he added that he wouldn’t tolerate any trouble. The gangs put aside their dif-ferences and everyone reportedly played nice during their vacation, with Capone

staying at the Arlington and Moran at the Majestic Hotel.

McClard’s Bar-B-Q is a legend in Hot Springs. In 1927, it was known as the Westside Tourist Court. A down-and-out traveler couldn’t pay his $10 bill for a two-month lodging and offered owners Alex and Gladys McClard the “world’s greatest barbecue sauce” recipe. Something is al-ways better than nothing, they reasoned, so they accepted the barter payment. They tried it out and it turned out they had made a fantastic trade after all. So in 1928

Westside Tourist Court became Westside Bar-B-Q, and eventually the name was changed to McClard’s. In 1928, barbecued goat was the meat of choice and that suit-ed Chicago mobsters just fine.

Fourth-generation owner Brenda Thomason tells of her grandfather making deliveries of barbecued goat quarters. “My grandfather always wanted to be the one to deliver to the gangsters,” she says. “He was 15 and knew that the gangsters would always tip him a dollar, and he [also] knew that there would be scantily clad women

Al Capone made Spa City a fave hide-out

The historic Arlington Hotel was a favorite getaway spot for Al Capone and his gangster pals.

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in their rooms,” she adds with a smile.The Arlington Hotel seen today is the

third incarnation of the landmark estab-lishment. The first hotel, built at three sto-ries tall in 1875, was razed to make room for a larger second one, which was de-stroyed by fire in 1923. A new, even larger hotel opened with a gala on New Year’s Eve, 1925. It was in 1925 that Capone as-sumed the leadership roll of The Outfit and it was the 1925 Arlington Hotel that Capone began visiting, reserving the en-

tire fourth floor for his entourage. Capone always stayed in Room 442. Besides being more spacious, it had a commanding view of his favorite Hot Springs gambling spot across the street, the Southern Club.

Capone, the legend goes, would get into a car, have his driver take him a block north on Central Avenue and make a U-turn. The car would then drop the mob boss off in front of the Southern Club in grand fashion. It’s reported that Capone didn’t simply go to a club. Capone “ar-

rived” in grand fashion wherever he went.The Capone era began when he took

over The Outfit in 1925 and ended when he was sentenced to a federal penitentia-ry in 1932 – a mere seven years. But the swath of crime and wreckage he spread across those years has had an impact larg-er than that short span would indicate. And though the fascinating, wide-open history of Hot Springs predated and out-lived Capone, his legend is still written large and indelibly on the city’s narrative.

The view from The Arlington Hotel’s Capone Suite window

This old photograph shows Al Capone and pals having fun in Hot Springs.

The Arlington features several suites, including this Al Capone Suite.

Enter at your own risk: The door to the Al Capone SuiteThe interior of The Arlington is serene and beautiful.

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18 | Currents | April/May 2014

To look at Bonnie and Jesse Roediger today one would be hard pressed to see

that there was a time when they were floundering. That’s the way it often is with those who are rock solid in their faith. Their faith has often been forged into a solid rock from frail pieces of lesser materials. “We answered an altar call in 1982,” Bonnie says of their con-version experience. But that was just the beginning for the Wyoming couple.

In 1999 Bonnie and Jes-se received a different calling. It was one that had no shape, form or plan. It was simply a calling from God. “We didn’t know what we were (supposed)

to do,” she says. “(But) we had a vision to travel around the U.S. in an RV to minister to people wherever (God) sent us.”

So, in 2000 the Roedigers sold their 4,500-square-foot home in Douglas, Wyoming, and purchased their first RV and started on their journey, wherever it led.

“The first place we minis-tered was Virginia City, Ne-vada,” Bonnie says. “Our plan was to work (and) camp in different RV parks.” In Virgin-ia City both Jesse and Bonnie found regular jobs, but Bonnie saw her job as an expression of their ministry endeavor. “I got to work as a cook in a senior center and (also) deliver Meals On Wheels,” she said.

From 2000 to 2006 the Roedigers were full-time RV-ers. They moved to Green Forest in 2006 because their daughter had moved to North-west Arkansas to attend the nursing program at North Ar-kansas College.

Bonnie had promised they’d move to Arkansas to be of help to their daughter and her then-husband. But the move did not diminish their commit-ment to their call to ministry.

“It (has been) a growing process, and we learned over the years that our ministry was going to be as seed planters,” Bonnie says. “That means that we plant and water, someone else will cultivate, and still an-other will harvest.”

There is a downside to a ministry of planting the seeds of faith. “We don’t often see the results of the seeds that we plant,” Bonnie said. “Except here in Carroll County for the

Sto

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Eureka Springs Mayor Morris Pate, right, was one of many local officials on hand at the National Day of Prayer Breakfast last year.

Bonnie Roediger

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last few years. Since the Carroll County Bi-ble Reading Marathon (CCBRM) has been going on we’ve (been able) to see the results of (our) ministry.”

The CCBRM began in 2010 with 91 hours of continuous scripture reading, di-vided into 15-minute segments. Its ending coincided with the National Day of Prayer. The first three marathons were held on the Berryville Square. Last year, it was held on the Green Forest Square and will be this year and in 2015. “Each city in Carroll County will (host) the marathon for three years,” Bonnie said. “It will move to Eureka Springs in 2016.”

The roots of the Roediger’s Bible-read-ing marathons lie in the inspiration pro-vided by another ministry, Bible Pathways, and its leader Dr. John Hash. Several years before the CCBRM was established, the Roedigers participated in a Pathways mar-athon, which led to the Carroll County event.

When Dr. Hash passed away in Feb-ruary 2012, at age 90, Bonnie and Jesse received the clear vision of establishing Bi-ble-reading marathons. The organizational skills learned through their work on the CCBRM provided the basis for their soon-to-be-established ministry, Bible Reading Ministry International. Bonnie’s BRMI was awarded 501(c)3 status last year.

The BRMI website defines the goals and vision of the ministry as to “take Bi-ble Reading Marathons to the nations; and encourage others to become a sponsor for marathons.” With four years of experience, Bonnie branched out to help and facilitate others to promote and execute Bible-read-ing marathons in their own communities. Besides the Carroll County marathon in

April, she will facilitate events in Boone County; Livingston, Montana; Wichi-ta, Kansas; Douglas, Wyoming; and last month, a marathon halfway around and at the top of the world at Kathmandu, Ne-pal, literally putting the “International” in BRMI. The Nepalese event was March 12-16.

“We’re not sure the extent of what we’re going to be doing,” Roediger said before leaving. “But we’re going to Nepal so we can facilitate the marathon, encourage the readers and plant seeds (of the Gospel) to the people.”

The Roedigers doesn’t speak Nepalese, the official language of the 126 different languages spoken there. “But many of the (young people) are taught English,” she

said, so she feels her contribution to the Nepalese Bible-reading marathon will be blessed. “If they need someone to read, we’ll take over and read in English.”

The international trip was one of faith for the Roedigers. “The ministry is a non-profit organization, funded by dona-tions and partnerships with those who be-lieve in what the ministry is doing,” Bon-nie said.

Working on a ministry is a journey of faith; that’s especially so for Bonnie. “In 2003, I was diagnosed with Multiple Scle-rosis, while living in Wyoming. The effects of the treatments were going to be worse than the complications of the disease,” she said. “In the course of six weeks, through the prayers of our church and christian friends, the symptoms of the disease dis-appeared.” But though the MS is not gone, Bonnie is persuaded that the continued prayers offered on her behalf are what have pulled her through the flair-ups.

Bonnie is an ordained minister through the “One New Man Alliance,” which is as-sociated with the Full Gospel Association. Olive Tree Fellowship, which meets in Eureka Springs on Sundays at Forest Hill Restaurant, is the local church affiliate of One New Man Alliance. But she credits her church of many years, Towering Oaks in Berryville, with encouraging her to “ex-pand my tent pegs.”

The Carroll County Bible Reading Mar-athon’s opening ceremony this year will be on April 27, concluding on Thursday, May 1, the National Day of Prayer. The website for Bible Reading Ministry International is www.BibleReadingMarathon.org.

Finding

Faith Story and Photos by David Bell

Father Shaun Wesley, above left, speaks at the National Day of Prayer breakfast last year, above right. The CCBRM draws all ages.

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When going ‘Green’ gets really good

Jerrmy Gawthrop, co-owner of Greenhouse Grille in Fayetteville, talks a lot about sustainabililty – and the business practices what he preaches. Top right is one of the eatery’s chicken entrees with outstanding sweet potato cakes. Bottom right is their famous Bourbon Pecan Pie.

G r e e n h o u s e G r i l l e

These days in many com-munities it’s the “in” thing to make your business and its operations as “green” or Earth-friendly and sustain-able as possible – but it’s

usually no easy task to make big changes, even when they will often save you money in the long run, as many sustainability ef-forts do (switching to solar power, or LED or CFL light bulbs, for example).

What if a business – an upscale, full-ser-vice restaurant, no less – started off with Mother Earth in mind, and was indeed entirely based on the premise of creating “Conscious Cuisine” and being better stew-ards of our natural resources?

That’s exactly the mission of Greenhouse Grille in Fayetteville, a popular, award-win-ning modern eatery that “takes a conscious approach to managing and procuring re-sources,” from serving as much organic and locally grown produce and all-natural, locally raised meats as possible to growing their own organic herbs, using green soaps and paper products, recycling, composting

and installing energy-efficient lighting.First opened in 2006 in the 1,300-square-

foot building adjacent to Pizza Hut where Archibald Yell Boulevard meets South School, co-owners Clayton Suttle and Jer-rmy Gawthrop soon saw they’d found a recipe for success, and they moved into the 3,000-square-foot building that originally housed Le Maison de Tartes about a block down South School. The “new” location seats up to 128 patrons and employs 34 people.

Greenhouse Grille is serious about its mission, too; it practices sustainability in every possible area of its business, by doing the following, to name a few:

• Using Seasonally Available Organic and Locally Grown Produce

• Supporting Local Farms, Ranches and Businesses

• On-Site Organic Gardens • Using Locally Produced Organic

Breads• Using Locally Roasted Organic Cof-

fees • Using All Natural, Locally Rasied

Meats • Using Only Sustainably Caught Fish

and Seafood • Featuring Organic Wines and Beers,

All Natural Sodas and Organic Teas • Recycling Plastics, Glass, Steel and

Aluminum Cans, Paper, and E-Waste • Composting of All Organic Waste Ma-

terials • Using Filtered Water for Drinking,

Cooking, and Ice • Waste Grease and Oil Recycled into

Bio-Diesel • Using Environmentally Safe Soaps,

Cleaning Agents and Food Wash • Using Recycled Paper Products in

Bathrooms, Kitchen, and Office • Operating with LED and Energy Effi-

cient Lighting • Using Recycled Cotton Sound Panels

Throughout Restaurant Some of the local farms and ranches

that provide meat and produce for Green-house Grille’s customers include Little Por-tion Hermitage of Eureka Springs; Cloud 9 Meats of Carthage, Mo.; Food Hold Farm

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of Low Gap; Walnut Grove Farm of Siloam Springs; Sweden Creek Farm of Kingston; and Old Soul Organics and More, Round Mountain Farm, Black Berry Farms, Ozark Natural Breads and Arsagas Coffee Roast-ers all of Fayetteville. More flow on and off the list seasonally and from year to year, said co-owner Gawthrop.

“About 30 percent of the food we serve is purchased locally,” he said, noting that achieving even that amount has taken a lot of work.

That hard work has paid off in more ways than the plethora of fans and regu-lar clientele Greenhouse Grille has built; the restaurant has won more awards in its young life than there is room to name here. To name a few, it has been named Best Restaurant in Fayetteville and Runner-Up Best Restaurant in Arkansas, 2010, by the Arkansas Times Readers’ Choice Awards, which also tapped it a statewide runner-up for Best Restaurant in 2011 and runner-up for Best Vegetarian Statewide in 2011. Citiscapes Metro Magazine of Fayetteville named it Best Vegetarian Restaurant ev-ery year from its opening through 2012, Best Brunch 2012, and runner-up for Best Restaurant Overall 2012.

In addition to the accolades from media outlets’ readers’ choice awards for its food, the Sierra Club named Greenhouse Grille the Greenest Small Business and Greenest Restaurant in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal named it the Greenest Business in the re-gion in 2008.

So now that we’ve established the food is incredible, you may be asking, “But what’s the food like?”

T h e lunch menu includes ap-petizers such as the

Sweden Creek Farm Organ-

ic Shiitake M u s h -

r o o m F r i e s

($9), Par-mesan &

Herb Risotto Balls, ($7.50),

Mediterranean Platter with hum-

mus, tabouli, falafel, feta, tiziki and olives ($12.50), Hand Cut Sweet Potato Fries ($6), soup and salad. Entrees range

from the House Made Bean Burger ($10) and the Grilled Local Steak Burger ($11) to the Cuban Quinoa Salad ($11) and The Curly (marinated and grilled local shiitake mushroom sandwich, $10).

The dinner menu is appropriately more elaborate and deep in variety, with entrees such as the Cage Free Chicken & Apricot Marsala ($18), the Blackened Rainbow Trout & Grits ($22), Filet Mignon with a bleu cheese demi glace ($30), and Organic Quinoa Saute ($16).

When we visited, we were blown away with everything we sampled, which includ-ed our favorites, the risotto balls (meaty but light in substance, with a bread crumb crust, and healthy in size at 1.5-2 inches

in diameter), the Mediterranean Platter (outstanding in every way, and delicious-ly fresh), and Sweet Potato Fries – they’re more like chunky cakes made with shred-ded sweet potatoes – that turned several anti-sweet-potato guests into instant fans.

Greenhouse Grille also has a full bar and a varied selection of outstanding desserts, including their infamous Bourbon Choc-olate Chunk Pecan Pie served with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce ($6.50).

The restaurant is open Tuesday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Sat-urday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Greenhouse Grille is located at 481 S. School Ave., 479-444-8909, www.GreenhouseGrille.com.

Table for Tw

o Story by Kristal Kuykendall • Photos by David Bell

Greenhouse Grille’s easily spotted bright green building is located at 481 S. School Ave., at the bottom of the “S” curve at the southern end of College Avenue, just before Sixth Street. The building formerly housed Le Maison de Tartes. BELOW: Behind the restaurant sits the Green-house Grille herb garden, and the owners are prepping to build a greenhouse for growing vege-tables as well. BELOW LEFT: Greenhouse Grille’s excellent Risotto Balls appetizer.

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In a former life, he was a software research scientist working in user interface development for IBM. He also taught at the University of North Carolina, where he got his Ph.D. in computer graphics and

worked with biochemists at Duke Univer-sity on what is known as “the protein fold-ing problem.”

The problem: to understand and pre-dict how strings of amino acids fold into three-dimensional shapes.

Now known as Elby, he is exploring a career as an artist, creating three-dimen-sional works in clay that break out of con-ventional mold.

Elby is one of eight potters who are stag-ing an exhibit of their work at The Space during May Festival of the Arts exhibit. Opening May 1, the show, new this year, is titled “Form and Function: Master Potters of North West Arkansas.”

“It represents two of the styles that will be seen,” Lorna Trigg said. “Some of it is functional and some is sculptural.”

Trigg, who teaches pottery at Fire Om, a retreat center and botanical sanctuary, said the group formed to put the show together. It includes James Wallace and Doug Pow-ell, who have worked in ceramics for more

than 30 years. Wallace taught at Texas A & M and Muskingum College before moving to Eureka Springs in 1998. The owner of Paradise Pottery, he creates functional and sculptural pieces on the wheel at his studio west of Eureka Springs.

A Eureka Springs artist for 34 years, Doug Powell said he has been doing pot-tery off and on since he was a student at the University of Maryland in the mid-1970s. Powell also works in metal, glass and wood, and build kayaks and drums. Powell pri-marily makes functional pottery, he said, thrown on the wheel or by hand, including bowls, mugs and plates. Participating in “Form and Function” show inspired him to try more work that is not strictly function-al, he said.

Also part of the Master Potters is Sheri Cunningham, who has been working with clay since 1996, when she took a ceramics class during her last term at Texas Women’s University and switched majors from nurs-ing to a fine arts. Born and raised in Seattle, she ran two galleries there before moving

form & functionMaster Pottersstage show at

Festival of Arts

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Arts Scene By Jennifer Jackson

to the Ozarks in 2003. Known as “Sheri the Potter,” she had stu-dios at the Art Colony and in Berryvillle. Cunningham primarily creates utilitarian pieces, and collaborates with Cathrin Yoder, an artist who does illustrative glazing. Her pieces are both functional and aesthetic.

“It is a pleasure to eat off my work,” Cunningham said.In addition to teaching, Trigg makes large sculptural pieces and

functional pottery, including Majolica-style bakeware. Originally from South Africa, she is the spouse of Craig Hirsch, an instru-ment maker. Originally from Buffalo, N.Y., Hirsch learned to play his first musical instrument, the flute, when he was 26 years old, and has been making them ever since. In addition to wood, he uses clay to makes ceramic flutes, whistles and ocarinas, which he will exhibit -- and demonstrate -- at the show.

“I’m doing function,” he said.Firmly in the ‘form’ camp is Maureen Dailey, an assemblage

artist who started taking pottery classes at Trigg’s studio in 2012 because she wanted to assimilate clay into her work. Now the clay has become the predominate medium, she said. Her goal: to make simple vessels accented with found objects. Originally from Long Island, N.Y., Dailey is a retired horticulturist who worked at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro before moving to Eureka Springs. She describes her pottery as having “no function whatsoever.”

“Half the time it turns into what it was meant to be,” Dailey said.

Elby, who moved Eureka last fall, has taken pottery classes and worked in clay as a hobby, finding a studio wherever his career took him. Reviving his skills at Fire Om, he works in terra cotta clay, forming functional vessels, then cutting them up to make vas-es or bowls with surreal forms.

“It all starts out as a sphere, a cup or a vessel shape,” he said. The youngest potter in the show is Trigg’s intern, Katy Guetzlof.

From Booneville, Ark., Guetzlof, 21, is exhibiting sculptural piec-es for the show. Her goal is to prove that a person her age can make it as an artist, she said.

“Form & Function: Master Potters of North West Arkansas” will be held at The Space, 2 Pine St. at Spring Street (across from Eureka Springs Post Office). Opening reception is Thursday, May 1, 6 to 9 p.m. Show is Friday, May 2, from 2 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, May 3, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

FAR LEFT: Lorna Trigg makes large sculptural pieces as functional pieces, including Majolica-style bakeware. CENTER: Maureen Dailey combines found objects with pottery. AT RIGHT: A retired research scientist, Elby takes functional shapes and turns them into art.

Seven of the potters participating in “Form and Function” pose for a group photo in front of the Fire Om studio. From left front are Katy Guetzlof, Sheri Cunningham, Craig Hirsch and Maureen Dailey, and back row, Elby, Doug Powell and Lorna Trigg.

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“This land was where, a long time ago, before white people came, medicine people from all over North America came to gather medicine. This is where a lot of the herbs and medicinal plants are

that don’t grow everywhere because they have to have a spe-cific environment,” says Maria Christina Moroles, also known as “Águila,” matriarchal steward and president of the Arco Iris Earth Care Proj-ect.

She is referring to 500 acres lo-cated in Newton County in Boxley near the Buffalo River, about 400 acres of which the project has stew-ardship.

Águila lives on 130 acres. The rest of the land, 400 acres, which was one of the origi-nal Boxley home-steads and later became the wom-en-owned Sassa-fras commune, has been under a pur-chase contract since 2000. Águila has lived on her land for more than 40 years. She said she felt called to come here to protect this land.

“I came to Fayetteville when I was 20, looking for this land that I live on,” she said.

Born to a large working-class family, her parents are indige-nous people from the Coahuilteco Aztec tribe, her father hailing from Mexico and her mother from South Texas. The Coahuilte-co people’s territory ranges from northern Mexico to southern Texas.

At 17, Águila began doing traditional, indigenous Native American healing work and became a “curandera total,” which means she works with herbs and many other modalities. She is a licensed master massage therapist and owns La Clinica in Jasper. Her traditional healing methods involve prayer and ceremony.

“We infuse everything we do with prayer,” she said.The Arco Iris Earthcare Project is dedicated to preserving

the land, fostering sustainable living, environmental ed-ucation, building an education cen-ter and eventually moving the clinic there. One of three planned buildings has already been built – a pavilion with a kitchen and meeting area. Pro-ceeds from benefit events, such as the recent Spring Equi-nox Concert held in Eureka Springs, will go towards building the school and supporting the project.

“Our prayer is to have two more buildings besides the pavil-ion,” Águila said. “One would be a clinic/office. Right now we have just a storage building we turned into an office. Eventually we’d like to have the clinic where people from our area could come to get healing.... The other building would be a commer-cial kitchen, lunch room, dining area and dorm. Those are the three buildings we would call our Earth School.”

She said she would move her clinic practice there and teach traditional healing, environmental education from the Native American perspective and have a residency program where stu-

Águila makes medicine using nature’s ingredients.

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Help

ing H

ands By Kathrun Lucariello

Wild Magnolia, Beech Creek heading toward Buffalo River

dents could come.“It is centrally located for this ru-

ral community, Boxley and the val-ley area. There are a lot of healers, artists and tradespeople who have to travel very far to get treatment.”

Although the community lives off the grid and has internet and solar electricity, in other ways it is very simple living, hauling water from their own spring and using outhouses.

“I always want to make it clear I hold this space for those people who are disenfranchised and dis-placed indigenous peoples,” Águila said, and added that although the concern is governed by indigenous women, indigenous men are also involved, as are white people, some of whom sit on the eight-member

board and help out in various ways, including fund-raising.

“We are open to all people. Any-body is welcome to come here, no matter what their past has been. As a healer I do not judge people for what they’ve done. I just try to help people as I can.”

She said Arco Iris is a “sanctu-ary for all life ... and we are trying to bring back the knowledge of the indigenous people, so I try to make a space for them, and that’s my job, to try to keep that intact.”

To learn more about Arco Iris Earth Care Project, visit their website at www.earthcareproject.wordpress.com and www.arcoir-islaclinica.wordpress.com, as well as Arco Iris Earth Care Project on Facebook.

Bringing in the New Year 2014 at the Arco Iris prayer lodge

Rose Stanton plants the Ojo de Dios peace prayer staff during the 2013 Spring Medicine Walk

Arco Iris “is a sanctuary for all life,” Águila says.

The Pavillion at Arco Iris Earth Care Project

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26 | Currents | April/May 2014

Ouch! I quickly pull my finger away from the handle of the hot old cast iron pan, used for decades by countless southern

mothers and home cooks. The heat build up in that old iron cooks everything like chicken, fish and biscuits so much bet-ter than any new pan. Though I remem-bered to use a potholder, the heat inten-sity came right through, causing a minor burn, which immediately turned red and inflamed.

Think about the word inflamed: in flame. Ouch, again and again until it is healed. Ailments such as diabetes, heart disease, dementias are like this fin-ger burn as all cause harm to our body through inflammation. Actually, all ail-ments include inflammation sometimes acute (like the burn) or chronic like di-abetes.

When I burned my finger I glycated

just like when you brown a turkey in the oven or a piece of Southern fried chicken in that old cast iron pan. Inflammation can help us heal. It can also cause big troubles if it doesn’t come and soon go.

Glycation (browning) and inflamma-tion are found together though I think

they are strange bedfellows. Think about getting a suntan where you brown, then think about a sun burn — again, OUCH! Did you know that every time you eat anything, a certain amount of glycation happens inside your body? The more your body glycates the more inflam-mation occurs. This is normal and even healthful until it gets out of hand or lasts too long.

The digestive system starts the glyca-tion like cooking in an oven. Although nutrition requires this, certain foods produce a lot of irritants while others produce just a little. For instance, lard as a cooking oil produces a lot of glycation while olive oil produces only a little. So the inflammation level inside the arteries is less with olive oil and higher with lard.

The higher the inflammation and the longer it lasts is directly linked to what causes chronic disease. Glycation

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The best food plan shown to reduce glycation and inflam-mation is the Mediterranean diet. The South Beach food

plan would be a good choice, too. Meat choice is about what you’d expect, with lamb, beef

and pork causing the most inflammation, in that order.

Insidious InflammationSwelling in our bodies can cause big problems if not kept in check

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Here’s to H

ealth By Jim Fain

is when a sugar, the browning agent, is combined with protein/fat and cooked. Just as the burn of my finger caused gly-cation and inflammation outside of my body, it happens inside, too.

Diabetes and heart attack is very com-mon in our part of the world. The food choices readily available and really part of our Southern cuisine are rich in sug-ars, fat and protein. That’s why they taste so good and deep fry, pan fry or bake to a delectable golden brown. Many food manufacturers add sugar to processed foods just so they brown beautifully and taste sweeter. You can see that the food choice adds to inflammation.

Inside the body of the diabetic the di-gestion of that same food (like a perfect Southern-style biscuit) glycates causing a very high amount of insulin to irritate the inside of the arteries. Over time this “ouch” causes damage to heart, brain and arteries in general. Coronary artery dis-ease, carotid artery disease and brain dis-ease is all linked. Even though I’ve only mentioned diabetes and heart attack, all chronic disease is linked in some way.

The best food plan as of now shown to reduce glycation and inflammation is the Mediterranean diet. The South Beach food plan would be a good choice, too. Meat choice is about what you’d expect, with lamb, beef and pork causing the most inflammation in that order. It isn’t about going low-fat but it is about in-creasing healthy fat while decreasing the type of fat found in these red meats that increases glycation.

Grain choice likely won’t surprise you either with whole grains being far better for you than those heavily processed. What might surprise you is that cut-ting-edge science also implicates whole

grains as major irritants.Other than being smarter about the

food you eat what more can you do? First, if you have any type of chron-

ic disease like arthritis, diabetes, heart, digestive, etc., then ask your doctor for regular C-Reactive Protein (C-RP) blood tests. By doing this you can see how much inflammation you carry in your body. The lower the amount is, the better.

Secondly, you can supplement with Omega-3 (fish) oils aiming for 600mg of DHA, which is an ingredient in the oil for those with high C-RP or at higher risk of inflammation disease. Omega-3s are fire extinguishers. Krill oil is another good choice — though if you have a allergy to shrimp you may want to avoid this.

Vegans do best with chia seed oil, but it isn’t as good as Omega-3s. Avoid the Omega 3, 6 and 9 combined oils. Addi-tionally, the regular use of a baby aspirin may be a good idea, but there are plus and minus considerations. In my opin-ion, if you take care of yourself with a good-quality Omega-3, the aspirin need is questionable.

My finger healed up just fine, and rest assured, I still use my old cast-iron pan. After all, I am a Southerner.

Krill oil is good choice for reducing inflamma-tion, but if you have a allergy to shrimp you may want to avoid this.

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28 | Currents | April/May 2014

Mark your Calendars!APRIL

• 10-13 – WALMART FLW TOUR will stop at Prairie Creek Park, 9300 North Park Rd. in Rogers. FLW is the premier tournament fishing organization that provides unparal-leled fishing resources and entertainment to our anglers, sponsors, fans, and host com-munities. Through a variety of platforms including tournaments, expos, international media, and creative marketing strategies, FLW is committed to providing a lifestyle experience that is the best in fishing, on and off the water. For more information, contact the Rogers Convention and Visitors Bureau at 800-364-1240.

• 18 – THE 14TH ANNUAL GLOW RUN is put on by the Children’s Advocacy Center of Benton County and includes a 5K Glow Run, 1-Mile Fun Walk and 400-Yard Super Hero Dash. The race begins and ends at the Frisco Stage on First Street in downtown Rogers. For more information, call 479-621-0385 or visit www.CACBentonCo.com.

• 18-19 – THE CELEBRATE JESUS PA-RADE AND CONCERT, hosted by the Western Carroll County Ministerial Associ-ation, will feature music in Eureka Springs’ Basin Park on Friday, April 18, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Saturday, April 19, music will go from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the parade starts

at 2 p.m., and after the parade, music will continue until 5 p.m. The parade will feature floats, banners and walking groups that edi-fy the Lord. For more information, call Dale or Laura Nichols at 479-253-8925 or email [email protected].

• 20 – THE EASTER SUNRISE SERVICE will begin at 7 a.m. at the feet of Christ of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs. The Great Pas-sion Play has hosted this ecumenical event for many years, celebrating the resurrection of Christ before one of the largest memori-al statues of Christ in the world. For more information, go to GreatPassionPlay.org or call 800-882-7529.

• 25-26 – CARVING IN THE OZARKS features between 15 and 30 chainsaw carv-ers all doing their work on location behind Eureka Springs’ Cornerstone Bank, at 152 E. Van Buren. For more information, call David Blankenship at 479-253-2080 or visit CarvingintheOzarks.com.

• 25-26 – THE SPRING YARDS & YARDS OF YARD SALES is happening from 8

a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 25 and 26 in Eure-ka Springs. Treasures and bargains will be found all around town. Maps will be avail-able at the Chamber of Commerce and other venues around town. For more infor-mation, call 800-6EUREKA or visit www.EurekaSpringsChamber.com.

• 27 – REART CHAIR-ITY, a Eureka Springs School of the Arts fundraiser fea-turing art and collectibles, including the re-gifting of art, will be held at the Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center on Sunday, April 27. The silent auction opens at 6:30 p.m. At 8, there will be a fun live auction of ReART chairs by Jim Nelson, Doug Stowe and Gina Galina, among others. Enjoy appetizers as you bid on rare art and collectibles.

• 27-May 1 – THE FIFTH ANNUAL CARROLL COUNTY BIBLE READING MARATHON will be held April 27 through May 1 on the square in Green Forest. Pre-events include come-and-go prayer from 6 to 9 p.m. on April 25 and “The Awakening” youth rally on April 26, also from 6 to 9 p.m. The opening ceremony will kick off the mar-athon at 3 p.m. on April 27.

MAY

• 2-4 – THE SPRING WAR EAGLE CRAFT FAIR is going on May 2-4 from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at War Eagle Mill. For

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To-Do List By Catherine Krum

mey

more information, call 479-789-5398 or visit www.WarEagleMill.com.

• 2-4 – THE OZARK BIRDERS’ SPRING-TIME RETREAT in Bull Shoals includes activities for everyone from beginner to advanced birders, including guided walks, evening programs, basic birding clinics, lake cruises and children’s programs. Contact the park at 870-445-3629 or [email protected] for a detailed schedule. Admission is free except for lake cruises.

• 3 – THE 2014 ARTRAGEOUS PARADE will be held at night this year. The parade will start at 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 3, and it is open to everybody – floats, cars, walkers, musicians, dancers, animals, groups, indi-viduals, vans, drummers, kids, adults; any-body who wants to help us kick off the May Festival of the Arts in a big, colorful way. For more information, call the CAPC at 479-253-7333, go online to EurekaSpringsFes-tivaloftheArts.com or visit www.Facebook.com/artscouncileureka.

• 10 – THE VILLAGE CRAFT SHOW fea-tures handmade items from a variety of local and regional artisans. The spring craft show is held on Saturday, May 10 from 9 a.m. un-til 5 p.m. at The Village at Pine Mountain in Eureka Springs. For more information, call 479-244-6907 or 479-253-2583.

• 10 – DEMOLITION DERBY AT RO-DEO OF THE OZARKS in Springdale is a fun family night where drivers will compete for prizes and bragging rights. Drivers will face off until the last man is standing! For more information, call 479-756-0464, email [email protected] or visit www.RodeooftheOzarks.org.

• 18 – THE BOOKS IN BLOOM ANNUAL LITERARY FESTIVAL will be held in the Crescent Hotel Garden in Eureka Springs on May 18. The festival is presented by the Car-roll and Madison Public Library Foundation as a garden party for writers and readers, featuring authors and book-related profes-sionals. For more information, call 870-423-5300 or visit www.BooksInBloom.org.

• 28-June 2 – THE OZARKS MOTOMAR-ATHON is a unique long-distance motor-cycle sport-touring spring ride in the Ozark Mountains. The Ozarks Motomarathon will loop out of Eureka Springs with routes de-signed by Butler Motorcycle Maps. Head-quarters for this event will be the Traveler’s Inn all four days. The initial rider’s meeting is at 8 p.m. on May 28, where day one routes will be handed out. For more information, call John Metzger at 303-641-1062 or visit www.Motomarathon.com.

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Author and cook Mary Ann Bell

FromAmerica’sCookbooksExploring Our Culture Through Our Favorite Recipes

Over the year most families drift to favorites; a favor-ite place to have pizza,

favorite movie theater, a favorite flea market.

But one of the most important favorites to most families are fa-vorite recipes. I have several that are always loved by my family. Any side dish recipe with canned French-fried onion rings is a fa-vorite of my husband. So here’s one that’s a tried-and-true at our house. It’s an easy and quick po-tato casserole that we enjoy with

ham and chicken main courses.This makes a nice base on

which to add ingredients and adapt. For example, as is, it would be a great potato dish for breakfast. But add ham or bacon, and perhaps chopped asparagus, and you can create a dish that will be well-received.

This is a dish we definitely have at holiday meals, especially our upcoming Easter lunch.

I got the recipe from a cook-book I found at one of my favor-ite flea markets. It’s the Arkan-

sas Home Extension Cookbook, printed many years ago.

Unlike pastry and baked goods the ingredients may be adjusted to suite your family’s liking. Here’s the original recipe.

I hope you enjoy this use-ful dish. For our Easter sunrise service breakfast potluck I will adapt this for a breakfast cas-serole. Who knows, I may even place several over-easy eggs across the top. This is definitely a dish with which you can be ad-venturous.

Quick Potato Casserole

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Cookb

ook Corner By M

ary Ann Bell • Photos by John Bell

Ingredients for basic dish:2-lb. bag frozen hash brown (shredded) potatoes. Thaw before use.

1 small can cream of mushroom soup, brand of your choice.

1 cup sour cream.

Toppings: your choice of amount of canned fried onion rings, grated cheddar cheese, crushed corn flakes (I substitute finely crushed bread crumbs).

Salt and pepper to taste.

Sauteed onions, celery and mushrooms; saute in butter or oil as you wish; veggie quantity as you wish.

Directions:Combine ingredients and mix into a 9x13 casserole dish. Use spray to coat the casserole pan before adding ingredients. You’ll be glad after baking.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, until bubbling.

Add the topping in layers and return to oven until topping are brown or cheese melted.

Let sit for a short time before serving.

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32 | Currents | April/May 2014

Eventually most photographers get the urge “do something” with their photography. After all, it’s a creative activity. Just

as singers enjoy singing, thespians enjoy performing, and painters love to create and then hang their paintings on the wall, photographers usually develop the desire to do the same.

Likewise, many photographers, even recreational picture-takers, want to do more with their art than just collect im-ages on a hard drive. It’s just the natural progression. But besides doing some-thing with their pictures they may begin to see photography as a way to earn extra money.

Most part-time photographers with a day job want to keep it. Some might want to eventually move into photography full-time. If you’re contemplating that move consider the old saying in photog-raphy that “the best way to ruin a won-derful hobby is to do it professionally.” Truer words have never been spoken, es-pecially, I believe, for studio-based pho-tographers. But on the other hand most National Geographic photographers will admit that they “have he best job in the world” – though not necessarily the eas-iest.

Professional is usually used to refer to someone who works full-time at an oc-cupation. Amateur is used to refer to a hobbyist who does the same thing, but without pay. An amateur is often con-trasted with the professional. The am-ateur does it for love, the professional does it for a paycheck.

But here’s the way I see it, in photog-raphy, at least.

Any photographer worth his salt had better be an amateur. Amateur comes

from Old French and means “lover of.” And since professional carries with it a sense of being on higher level, that pro-fessional photographer should be doing it because he loves it. If a photographer

has lost his love of (amateur) photogra-phy, he is in danger of becoming a mere vocational photographer. That would be one who is doing the job – for pay – without any drive or burning passion.

So, let’s turn this concept on its ear. I believe an amateur photographer can do professional-level work, even if he shoots only part-time. And a working full-time photographer should do amateur work. I work full-time at Carroll County News-papers and have had a commercial pho-tography business. But I am also a part-time freelance photographer doing work for motorcycle magazines – stories and photographs – producing profession-al-level work on a subject I know and also love: riding motorcycles. And like most full-time photographers, I started doing photography “on the side.”

If you strive to shoot pictures for pay, your client should expect you to be both a professional in your skills and an am-ateur your love for photography. Got it? Become both a professional and an am-ateur at the same time. Do photography because you love it. Be professional be-cause you want to do top-notch work ... and make money for the results.

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Taking the next stepA series looks at how three photographers took their love of photography and started thriving small businesses

IN THIS ISSUE:Charles Chappell

“Tom Mangelsen’s wildlife photographs had personality. And that’s what inspired me

to do a higher level of photog-raphy. That’s what I strive for in both my wildlife and sports

photography: Personality.”– Charles Chappell

Chappell photographing at the Cotton Bowl two years ago

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To help illustrate development as a photographer in the next three columns we’ll look at three case studies of success-ful part-time / freelance photographers.

Charlie Chappell’s father was a pho-tographer in the military, and his mother photographed wedding and operated a portrait business. “So I’ve been around photography all my life,” Chappell ex-plains.

But Chappell worked as a master woodworker and carpenter and owned a cabinet shop for most of his adult life. His photography was something between being a snapshot shooter and an avid hobby photographer, concentrating on family candids and his children’s sports. He gained a basic working knowledge of the operation of the camera, things like f-stops, shutter speeds and ISO numbers.

In 2006, Chappell made a move, lit-erally, that would redirect his life work. “I moved to Wyoming in ’06, (due to the building economic downturn) and moved there full-time for three years (in 2007),” he says. “I became a serious photographer in Wyoming.” Chappell spent his free time photographing the landscape and the wildlife of the area. “I wrote down (in logs) f-stops, shutter speeds, and film speeds (for each shot I took).” He started building a collection of pictures and strove to “do something” with his photography.

The natural path that photographers

have made over the years, especially those whose hobby is making scenic, landscape or wildlife photographs, is to enter the “stock market.” The stock mar-ket is where clients select pictures from a huge pool of topical pictures. Stock pho-tos are normally used in editorial publi-cations, interior design and advertising – wherever generic pictures will do. But with the advent of the internet, the in-come opportunities from stock pictures

income has fallen for all but the best and most unique photographs.

Likewise, it’s tough for landscape and wildlife hobby photographers to break into the fine art market. Numerous hob-by photographers love to take “nature pictures,” but the field is crowded. How-ever, those who develop a special style or who happen to be in the right place at the right time have the opportunity to find success as a part-time nature photogra-pher.

During his four years working con-struction in Wyoming, Chappell spent his free time out photographing the beautiful scenery and abundant wildlife of the area. “(Then) I went to the Tom Mangelsen gallery in Jackson and fell in love with wildlife photography,” Chappell says. “His wildlife photographs had per-sonality. And that’s what inspired me to do a higher level of photography. That’s what I strive for in both my wildlife and sports photography: Personality.”

For the rest of his three years in Wy-oming, Chappell was continually build-ing a collection of pictures and ventured into stock photography. He had a modest level of success marketing his pictures for stock and fine art use, but mainly he “got the bug.” There’s nothing like selling a photograph or seeing it in print to fuel the desire to do more.

When Chappell moved back to Ar-

Art of the Lens By D

avid Bell

One of the qualities of a photographer should develop is to recognize photo opportunities, even in difficult lighting conditions, and have the skill set to get the picture, as Chappell did at the Beaver Dam in the above photograph.

This owl was the first picture Chappell ever sold. The first sale is remembered by most photog-raphers.

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34 | Currents | April/May 2014

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kansas in 2010, he was ready for a life change. But it’s hard to make a clean ca-reer switch, so he started part-time free-lancing as well as marketing the images he was collecting.

Chappell entered contests, took his work to crafts fairs and juried shows, and solicited freelance assignments, as well as marketing his fine art photography. He also renewed his love of photographing kids’ sports. Most importantly, though, he continued to hone his craft and learn.

Besides attending workshops and seminars, Chappell learned from his son, Wesley. “Wes is my hero,” he said of his oldest child. He explains that after graduating from Berryville High School Wesley went to Los Angeles Art Institute, majoring in film directing. After finish-ing college he worked for well-known fashion photographer Ash Gupta. There, the younger Chappell learned still pho-tography from one of the best in a highly competitive and demanding field of pho-tography. And Charlie took advantage of the opportunity to learn from his son, the two going out photographing the Ozarks for hours at a time at all hours of the day and night. “You start approach-ing your photographs (differently) when you know what it takes to get that pic-ture,” Chappell said about working with Wes.

Encouraged, as well as mentored, by his son, Chappell has branched out and is now a full-time freelancer. On his website, cncimages.com, he lists many services: portraits, nature, wildlife and sports. Not listed is the work he does freelancing sports photography for Car-roll County News. Regardless of where your photographic passions lie, Chappell

has a bit of advice for aspiring photogra-pher, “Find your niche and the needs of your community and (work at) meeting those needs.”

Sports is a big part of Chappell’s niche. He spends much time at schools and youth sporting events photographing the action, selling his pictures on a print ful-fillment site called PhotoShelter.com. “I am passionate about kids’ sports,” Chap-pell says. “I try to get the emotion of the situation.”

Chappell’s work breaks down this way. “Wildlife photography is about 15 per-cent; landscape about 15 percent, fine art about 20 percent,” he says. His wildlife photography is mostly for editorial work. His landscapes mostly for display. His fine art photos are for interior designers, shows and placement at galleries. But his bread and butter, about 50 percent of his work, is his sports, sold mostly through his website. Chappell shoots mostly in the region immediately surrounding Carroll County.

Chappell is always working to im-prove and hone his photography skills. “Learning about lighting in my wildlife photography has helped me with my lighting in sports photography,” Chappell says. “A photographer, when they know they got the shot, they get goose bumps.”

And Charlie Chappell gets goose bumps quite often.

Looking for the quintessential “Decisive Moment,” or when to press the shutter button, is an im-portant thing for photographers to learn. Here Chappell captures “The Look” from a Razorback at the Cotton Bowl.

Landscape scenes are a mainstay of Chappell’s fine art photography.

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April/May 2014 | Currents | 35

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