Front Porch Magazine - Fall 2017

Porch Front

FALL 2017

Speaking for the Trees

A trained forester tries to move Congress to better federal forest management

IN THIS ISSUE

Farm Bureau Matters

Randy Veach | Page 3

Helping Farmers, Helping You Warren Carter | Page 5

Porch Front

Speaking for the Trees Gregg Patterson | Page 6

The Resurrection of Billy Wilchman

Gregg Patterson | Page 14

Taste Arkansas

Rob Anderson | Page 24

Land & People

Gregg Patterson | Page 28

In The Kitchen

Gregg Patterson | Page 32

Delta Child

Talya Tate Boerner | Page 36

ON THE COVER Rep. Bruce Westerman is the only trained forester within the U.S. Congress. His "Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017" now before Congress would reestablish timely forest management practices on federal forestland to reduce the potential of catastrophic forest fires and improve the overall health of our national forests.

Photo by: Keith Sutton

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Farm Bureau Matters

by Randy Veach | President, Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation

Bucking Bison Blessing

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farmer, like few others, has the opportunity to experience the divine, something directly related to or proceeding directly from God. The smell of freshly plowed ground. The sight of a newborn calf or the emergence of a plant from the nurturing soil. The despair of floodwater overwhelming a crop or the comforting view of cattle grazing on a hillside. It’s that daily interaction with the divine through thick and thin that grounds most of our farmers and ranchers. It fosters in us a natural optimism and resolve to accept the good and the bad that invariabley comes with being a farmer.

Divine intervention is, simply put, God intervening in the affairs of the world. Divine intervention can be God causing something to happen or God preventing something from happening.

I had the opportunity recently to visit with an Arkansas Farm Bureau employee, Keith Sutton, who encountered divine intervention in a memorable way. While taking photos and conducting an interview for an article that will appear in the next issue of Arkansas Agriculture magazine, Keith had a bad encounter with a buffalo. Routinely calm and gentle, this animal reacted instinctively when it felt threatened, which ultimately led to a divine discovery.

I will defer to Keith, a master storyteller, to recount the experience, as relayed to his co-workers in our employee newsletter.

“My Farm Bureau work assignment took me to a buffalo ranch in north-central Arkansas to photograph some bison. One old cow – one of about 30 around me – was very friendly and got close enough for me to rub her head. Bad mistake. As she lifted her head, her right horn accidentally hooked one of my belt loops.

When she felt my weight on her head, she went crazy. Picture a rodeo bull rider with his hand stuck in the rope, bouncing off the bull's head. That was me, and I'm sure I was on a full 8 or 10 seconds. Fortunately, I had ahold of her horn as I tried to break the belt loop. Didn't work. She beat me up something awful before the belt came free. I saw stars when I got slammed on the ground, and think I was knocked out for a short while. After I got my wind back, I thought I was OK, though. There was no obvious damage at first. Just some soreness and two swollen spots but not even any bruising. I continued working for another hour and then

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headed home, driving myself. But on the 100-mile drive, I started feeling nauseous and dizzy. I pulled into my wife’s office, and she took me to the hospital. By the time I arrived, I was dry heaving and about to pass out. They rushed me into the emergency room.

By this time, two huge hematomas had developed: one on my right side and one on my left hip. Fortunately, CT scans showed no broken bones, and with my hand on that horn, I managed somehow to avoid getting skewered. Here's the kicker. The CT scans found three tumors on my right kidney I didn't know were there. They are cancerous but the oncologist says the buffalo saved my life. If I hadn't had the CT scans, the cancer might have spread before I knew I had it. But they were caught early enough that they haven't spread, and removal of the kidney should resolve that problem. So, despite the intense pain I've been in, I'm glad the old gal took me on a ride. Otherwise, I might be facing much greater issues. My doc says after I heal from these wounds, we'll schedule surgery and get rid of the cancerous kidney … I'm a lucky guy.”

Keith’s story is both terrifying and uplifting. He has, indeed, been blessed by God’s hand. What could have been a tragic accident revealed the unimaginable, if not for the CT scan that came as a result of his buffalo ride. Keith received divine intervention. I am certain.

Our farmers and ranchers – and Farm Bureau staff – count themselves lucky to have a front-row seat from which to see God’s handiwork on a daily basis. God intervenes in the affairs of the world, demonstrated throughout the Bible, from Genesis through Revelation.

The United States needs divine intervention, too, with threats and tragedy seemingly all around us. Please pray for our country, our leaders, armed forces and those we interact with worldwide.

The U.S. has done more to help other nations than any other nation in the history of the world. Our sons and daughters have shed blood on foreign soil in support of freedom. We provide food, medicine, disaster relief and humanitarian support around the world. As a nation, our “True North” should always be following God’s guidance.

May God bless you and your families. God bless our farmers and ranchers. And God bless Arkansas Farm Bureau.

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Porch Front

Official membership publication of Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation mailed to almost 191,000 member-families.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Included in membership dues ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU OFFICERS:

President • Randy Veach, Manila Vice President • Rich Hillman, Carlisle Secretary/Treasurer • Joe Christian, Jonesboro Executive Vice President • Warren Carter, Little Rock DIRECTORS:

Troy Buck, Alpine Jon Carroll, Moro Terry Dabbs, Stuttgart Sherry Felts, Joiner Mike Freeze, Little Rock Bruce Jackson, Lockesburg Tom Jones, Pottsville Gene Pharr, Lincoln Caleb Plyler, Hope Rusty Smith, Des Arc Leo Sutterfield, Mountain View (in memoriam) Joe Thrash, Houston Dan Wright, Waldron EX OFFICIO

Donna Bemis, Little Rock Chase Groves, Garland Peggy Miller, Lake Village Mark Morgan, Clarksville Executive Editor • Steve Eddington Editor • Rob Anderson Contributing Writers • Ken Moore, Keith Sutton ADVERTISING

Contact David Brown at Publishing Concepts for advertising rates dbrown@pcipublishing.com (501) 221-9986 Fax (501) 225-3735 Front Porch (USPS 019-879) is published quarterly by the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation 10720 Kanis Rd., Little Rock, AR 72211 Periodicals Postage paid at Little Rock, AR POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rhonda Whitley at rhonda.whitley@arfb.com Front Porch • P.O. Box 31 • Little Rock, AR 72203 Please provide membership number Issue #105 Publisher assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

The Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation reserves the right to accept or reject all advertising requests.

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Helping Farmers, Helping You

by Warren Carter | Executive Vice President, Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation

It’s not Natural

Dealing with destruction

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Oranges and grapefruits floating in flooded Florida groves, trees atural disaster.

Those two words linked together have always given me uprooted and the crops lost just weeks before harvest, as well as ornamental plant operations that were destroyed. There are reports pause. The immediate result of a natural disaster, whether it be flooding, a tornado, a hurricane or wildfire, doesn’t look natural of coffee plantations in Puerto Rico being wiped out. And we’ve seen the images of vineyards, wineries and valuable stands of at all. In fact, it looks quite the opposite – unnatural and chaotic. timber burned to ash in California. All this after our farmers in Everything is out of place, strewn about, missing or destroyed.

Arkansas suffered from prolonged One might say a natural flooding this spring. disaster upsets the natural order To date, there have been 15 of things. Your mind tells you weather-related disasters nationally what you see is not the way this year that have caused $1 billion it should be. Think Houston. or more in damages. According to Think Florida. Think Puerto the Florida Farm Bureau Federation, Rico. Think California and the Hurricane Irma clipped farmers and other fire-destroyed areas in ranchers in the Sunshine State for western states. Think Arkansas more than $2.5 billion with citrus and the flooding that overtook farmers leading those losses at almost parts of our state last spring. $761 million. Hurricane Harvey American citizens have certainly Flooding devastated Arkansas farms this spring. dumped an unprecedented up to suffered dramatic losses from

Photo by Bryan Pistole 50 inches of rain in Texas. The ag natural disasters this year. And loss leader there was cotton with 20 human suffering is evident. It percent of the crop either lost or severely degraded. Livestock losses pulls at our collective heartstrings. were also significant. Puerto Rico’s agriculture secretary estimates According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric that 80 percent of the crops that make up the island’s $1 billion Administration, 84 people died from Hurricane Harvey, and agriculture sector were lost to hurricanes Irma and Maria. Coffee Hurricane Irma was responsible for 95 deaths. To date, almost 50 deaths have been attributed to Hurricane Maria’s blasting completely farmers may not recover. It’s still too early to determine the ag losses in California due to the fires, but it will be significant. And flooding across Puerto Rico, and “USA Today” reported Oct. 18 that the this spring in Arkansas resulted in $175 million in ag damages. death toll could potentially reach into the hundreds. The California These losses will be devastating to farmers and ranchers and will wildfires had killed 42 people and were still burning as of this have long-term consequences for consumers writing. And the April 25-May 7 flooding in Arkansas and Missouri Natural disasters, unnatural consequences – heartbreaking killed 20 people. The loss of human life – even one – is profound and staggering. We absorb the news, but we never get used to or accept it. and painful.

I’m always encouraged that organizationally and individually All we have to do is think of the trepidation and angst we felt as we Farm Bureau and its members are there to step up and willing first tried to contact loved ones in these areas to see if they were safe. to help. Arkansas Farm Bureau’s new foundation has made a We are deeply sorrowful for the loss of human life. significant contribution to the Hurricane Harvey relief fund and The agricultural community in and around these areas has the Hurricane Irma relief fund. Helping farmers, helping you. suffered terribly, too. We saw the photos and TV images of cattle That’s what it’s all about drives through downtown Houston to escape deadly flooding.

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Speaking fo

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or the Trees A trained forester tries to move Congress to better federal forest management

by Gregg Patterson

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.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman is a man on a mission. Arkansas’ 4th Congressional District representative now has a bill before Congress to improve forest management on nearly half-a-billion acres of public and tribal lands. He is speaking for the trees through his “Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017.” It’s his attempt to revamp how our national forests are managed and, in particular, managing them to deal with what’s become a national emergency caused by overwhelmingly destructive wildfires.

While “The Weather Channel” and most other TV news outlets focused on the destruction wrought by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate, another major weather disaster continued sweeping across western states. As the hurricanes petered out, 62 large fires were consuming forests in nine western states, adding to more than 50,000 wildfires that had already killed 42 people,

burned thousands of homes and businesses and more than 8.5 million acres nationwide. Major portions of Oregon, California and Montana were shrouded in round-the-clock smoke.

Westerman is the only trained forester in Congress, a legislative body that includes 535 members in the House and Senate. The Garland County native earned a master’s degree in forestry from Yale University and is professionally certified. He sits on the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources and is concerned at what he sees as the mismanagement of public forestland.

His bill has bipartisan support.

“There’s a great need for us to do something different on our federal lands in how our timber is managed,” Westerman said. “I’ve even reflected and wondered what Roosevelt and Pinchot would think if they could see what’s become of what they created with the Forest Service and

Rep. Bruce Westerman is looking to provide foresters the tools necessary to more efficiently manage the nation's federal forests and reduce the effects of catastrophic wildfires. His "Resilient Federal Forest Act of 2017" bill is presently working its way through Congress.

Photo by Keith Sutton

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Photos by John McColgan, Bureau of Land Management, and Keith Sutton

This dramatic photo was taken Aug. 6, 2000 during a fire in the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana. Good forest management results in reducing dead and dying timber, protecting and improving water quality, and providing quality wildlife habitat for a broad range of birds, fish and animals. Rep. Westerman's bill would provide timeliness and more flexibility for managing the national forest system by the U.S. Forest Service.

our federal timber management.”

The congressman knows his history. President Theodore Roosevelt created the U.S. Forest Service in 1905 and put his close friend Gifford Pinchot, himself a trained forester, in charge of the new agency. The idea was to manage the nation’s forestland (including wildlife, fish and water) in a science-based manner as the renewable resource that it is. This was necessary, because industrialist timber barons had cut down thousands of square miles of forests without replanting trees, damaging fish and wildlife populations and polluting streams and lakes. Pinchot believed the purpose of the Forest Service was “… to provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people in the long run.”

Westerman believes Pinchot’s noble purpose isn’t being adhered to and forest management is out of whack now. He says the Forest Service is having to continually fight massive fires and is often delayed or stopped from efficiently managing the nation’s timber resources in a way that would reduce the negative impact of those fires. His bill is designed to give the Forest Service the flexibility and timely tools necessary to reduce fires and their damaging effects.

“It’s really a shame that we’ve got a

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treasured national resource that we’re failing to properly manage,” Westerman said. He believes there’s a lack of scientific forest management, known as silvaculture. The result is stands of trees too dense and prone to insect infestation and disease damage. This creates increased fuel loads, feeding catastrophic fires that burn hotter and faster on larger tracts of land. “The downside to that is it pollutes the air, pollutes the water and damages wildlife habitat,” he said.

During the last 25 years, the U.S. Forest Service’s budget has dramatically shifted away from spending on managing for healthy, productive forests to one burdened by and heavily dedicated to putting out fires. In 1995, only 15 percent of the Forest Service budget was needed

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to put out fires. As the number of and severity of fires increased, its 2018 budget now calls for more than 52 percent for fighting wildfires. A 2015 U.S. Department of Agriculture report, projects that number to increase to 67 percent – $2 out of every $3 spent on wildfires – by 2025.

Westerman believes that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when it comes to reducing the destructive impact of wildfires. He designed his bill to make it easier for the Forest Service to reduce the extensive fuel loads that plague our forests now. Red tape, court challenges and other legal delays often prevent the Forest Service from reducing – for years – the powder keg of dense, dead, dying or diseased wood that feeds these huge, catastrophic fires that are predominantly set by lightning strikes.

“There’re so many positive things to having a healthy,

resilient forest,” Westerman said. “And that’s just not the results we’re getting on the ground on millions of acres of federal land right now.”

His bill focuses on expediting and improving forest management practices under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 on national forests, Bureau of Land Management and Tribal forestland that is fire-prone. Like a medical doctor looking at a patient’s lab results, Westerman offers a prescriptive, surgical scientific management approach to dealing with forest management.

“I look at the data, and I look at the science of what’s happening, and I know that there needs to be changes. It’s easy to get passionate about,” Westerman said.

Westerman’s passion includes his belief that present laws result in an onerous process of courtrooms, extensive

Arkansas features more than 3 million acres of national forestland located on the Ouachita and the Ozark/St. Francis national forests. Nationwide the USDA says 40 percent of housing units are located in fire-prone areas where wildlands and urban areas meet.

Photo by Keith Sutton

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This well-managed site on the Ouachita National Forest allows for timber growth and quality wildlife habitat and forage on the forest floor. Trees are a renewable resource and can be cut and replanted, providing much needed wood products and jobs, as well as forests for recreational activities and protection for water supplies.

Photo by Keith Sutton

legal fees, challenges by environmental groups, delays and more delays that are expensive and create management gridlock, something nature and fires don’t wait on. “That’s a big part of it,” he said.

He says the open tree stands that once characterized the West, where a person could gallop a horse beneath the understory are no longer common. “Now we’ve got these stands that have way more trees per acre.”

Stands are dense with a lot of dead wood on the ground or dead and diseased standing timber. A lightning strike, arsonist or careless person starts a fire, and there’s a ladder of fuels, from the ground to the top of the trees for fire to climb and jump from one tree to another.

Fires burn hotter, faster and destroy more, putting communities and lives at risk, too, costing huge amounts of money to suppress.

Westerman’s forest resiliency bill would allow for arbitration hearings settled within 90 days, limit public challenges to removing the dangerous fuel loads yet still require that the streamlined process remain within the scope set by the individual forest plans that were developed with extensive public input. However, some environmental groups criticize Westerman’s bill, claiming it will allow the Forest Service to circumvent other environmental laws, as well as avoiding requirements to work with other federal agencies to protect endangered species or designated critical habitat.

Westerman doesn’t hesitate in answering such criticism.

“Show me something that’s more beneficial for the environment and wildlife than a resilient, healthy forest,” he responded. “The path we’re on is not promoting healthy, resilient forests. And the path I want to put us on is to get forests that are good for the environment whether you’re talking air quality or water quality and are good for wildlife habitat.

“Fire is just nature’s reaction to correcting the mismanagement in the forest. When we decide we’re going to put the fires out but not do any forest management, we’re still making a management decision,” Westerman said. “If we wanted to do proper forest management and then put fires out in certain instances, that’s one thing. But to not do any management and let these stands become overcrowded, diseased and insect infested, get all these ladder fuels and other fuels on the

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forest floor and then try to put those fires out, we’re just actually compounding the problem even more.”

Westerman knows proper forest management that reduces dead, diseased, dying or overgrown stands of trees limits the catastrophic impact fire has on the forest and can protect and enhance critical fish and wildlife habitat, as well as water.

“If everything were perfect tomorrow from a policy standpoint, it’s going to take years and years to be able to get our forests back in a manageable scenario. So every time we delay, the problem is even worse,” he said. “This is time sensitive. It’s kind of crept up on us. Most of this anti-management started in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s and went on steroids in the 1990s.

Before we knew it, we had millions of acres subject to catastrophic wildfire.”

Westerman says states like California and Colorado, with vast amounts of federal forestlands, are net (carbon) polluters when it comes to timber management. “What I mean by that is there is less (healthy) timber standing in California this year than there was last year. Their forests are dying. They’re burning. They’re being destroyed. And they’re not growing back trees even at a rate to keep up with the amount they’re losing,” he said.

That means more carbon dioxide – a major greenhouse gas that scientific research has overwhelmingly linked to global warming – being released into the atmosphere. Conversely, Westerman says Arkansas and Georgia have more active forest management on private timberlands, resulting in a significant net gain in healthy forests. That means healthy trees soaking up and trapping carbon dioxide, known as carbon sequestration.

“You really can have win-win scenarios when you have healthy, resilient forests, because you’re creating a better environment, better wildlife habitat and you can actually have something that is good for the economy through these manufacturing jobs that come through the forest products industry,” Westerman said.

Today is much like the early 1900s when President Roosevelt asked the nation’s first forester, Gifford Pinchot, to restore the nation’s damaged forests. More than 100 years later, the lone voice of Congress’ only professional forester, Rep. Bruce Westerman, is again speaking out for the trees.

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Notice of Annual Meeting Of the members of Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation

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otice is hereby given that the annual meeting of the members of the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation will be at 8 a.m., Fri., Dec. 1, 2017, in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel in downtown Little Rock.

The purpose of this meeting is to elect a Board of Directors for the ensuing year and for the transaction of such other business as may properly come before the meeting.

In accordance with Article X of the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation bylaws, you hereby notified that the following amendment to Article XI to change the name of the Farm Bureau Women’s Committee to the Women’s Leadership Committee will be considered: ARTICLE XI. FARM BUREAU WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE The President will appoint the Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee, which will be composed of one (1) member from each Farm Bureau District, and will appoint the Chairman and Vice-Chairman at large. The Chairman and Vice Chairman will be ex-officio members of the Board of Directors. A Secretary will be elected by the committee from among its members annually. The President will appoint the Farm Bureau Women’s delegates to the American Farm Bureau convention in a number equal to the number of voting delegates of the Federation at the American Farm Bureau convention.

Warren Carter Executive Vice President

Of the members of Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company of Arkansas, Inc.

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otice is hereby given that the annual meeting of the members of the Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company of Arkansas, Inc. will be at 12 p.m., Fri., Dec. 1, 2017, in the Arkansas Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel in downtown Little Rock.

The purpose of this meeting is to elect a Board of Directors for the ensuing year and for the transaction of such other business as may properly come before the meeting.

David L. Moore EVP-General Manager

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The Resurrection of Billy Wilchman A passion for farming while enduring life’s hard lessons

by Gregg Patterson

Billy and Charlotte Wilchman's latest venture is this plantation-style home they're building at the edge of their 200-acre pecan plantation. Plans are to use it for agri-tourism, weddings and possibly a bed-and-breakfast.

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Photo by Gregg Patterson

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illy Wilchman is a survivor, literally.

In 2004, an airplane crash burned him badly and killed his friend.

He recovered.

Just as he was emerging from that difficult recovery, a killing April 2007 freeze wiped out half of his young pecan grove.

He replanted.

Later that year, a fire burned he and wife Charlotte’s home to the ground.

He rebuilt.

The following year, he endured the shock and daily financial stress of $1.5 million in debt when the company he grew chickens for decided to shut down its local operation.

He and Charlotte redoubled efforts to make ends meet by working their jobs as a nurse (Billy) and respiratory therapist (Charlotte).

The next year, 2009, Billy was laid off his job.

“You can’t make this stuff up,” he said. “There’s stuff that’s happened to me that would make most folks crawl under the table and give up, but that doesn’t get you anywhere.”

Through it all, the 55-year-old Conway County farmer developed a “never give up” philosophy to survive and somehow figured it out, bouncing back and following his passion for agriculture.

Like many, Wilchman got his start in agriculture at a young age. He began by raising and showing a sow as an FFA member when he was 13. That’s also when his entrepreneurial spirit that has served him so well, first emerged.

“My FFA teacher in high school planted that seed, and that’s just something I took off with. I’ve had to do other things to pay the bills and make a living, but I’ve always had a strong interest in agriculture,” Wilchman said.

Wilchman says he paid $300 for that FFA project pig, and she had 10 piglets. He sold all six of the males for $50 each, recouping his $300 and still had the sow and four female piglets left. “I knew right then, this was something I could get interested in,” he said. He bought more pigs and bred them. By the time he graduated high school, he had 30-40 sows. He ran his sow operation and worked fulltime at Morrilton Packing Co. “They bought a lot of the hogs I raised,” Wilchman said. “I had them in increments, so about every two weeks, they were ready to sell. I had the pleasure of selling them my own hogs in the morning and butchering those same hogs while working there in the afternoon.” He’d figured out a way to get two checks, one for selling his pigs and one for working his shift at the plant. “It paid off in the long run,” he said. He bought 40 acres with the money he earned from farm work.

Wilchman has never been afraid to try something different.

He’s raised and grown an eclectic list of things – pigs, poultry, prawns, earthworms, ostriches, emus, greenhouse plants and presently pecans, cattle and muscadines. He and Charlotte, married to each other for 25 years, are now building a replica

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Uncle Sam paying for it and went on to earn old southern antebellum Civil War-era plantation a nursing degree at the University of Central Arkansas. house at the edge of their 200-acre pecan grove in the He eventually transferred to the U.S. Air Force Arkansas River bottoms. Initial plans are for its use as and with his nursing experience wound up leading an agri-tourism destination, venue for weddings and humanitarian efforts in the 1990s to Panama, Bolivia, possible bed-and-breakfast. His venture into pecan trees Honduras, Guatemala and Ecuador. helped, as he says, “save him” during a down time of His military nursing work in these underdeveloped his life. Wilchman’s agricultural endeavors now provide countries took Wilchman deep into the Amazon River him with a good living and what might be perceived – at Basin of Ecuador with a team feeding and vaccinating first glance – as the idyllic lifestyle. However, that hasn’t needy children and adults. But even far from his farm, always been the case. he was able to Wilchman do some farming graduated from tiny work with an Wonderview High agri/veterinarian School, bought the team in Honduras 40 acres with cash vaccinating and and had his pig farm deworming farm and job at Morrilton animals. His work in Packing Co. He still Central and South owns those original America resulted 40 acres. in a humanitarian “Paying for service award from that up front like the president of I did meant from Guatemala and that point forward, letters of recognition I had collateral,” and appreciation Wilchman said. He from the embassies was a worthy credit of Honduras, risk. “I could buy Panama, Bolivia and a tractor and pay Ecuador. it off. I could get Billy the farmer something else for leased his Conway the farm and pay it County farmland off.” This allowed while Billy the him to continue soldier was serving building his good his country. “I wasn’t credit. “By doing gone for any great that early on that length of time,” he has propelled me said. “The South further into business, Wilchman served in the Army and Air Force National Guard using America trips lasted because I was able to six to eight months.” get things. Kids these his nursing skills during humanitarian deployments to Central and South America.

He leased the farm days that don’t have and eventually any credit, I could see made his way back after the Guard transferred him how it would be extremely difficult for them to get into from San Antonio to the Little Rock Air Force Base in farming,” he said.

Jacksonville.

Just as he was launching his farming career, Back in Arkansas again, Wilchman continued his Wilchman changed direction. “For some reason, I took nursing job along with working his farm. “People would a notion to join the National Guard, because I needed ask me why I work at the hospital, and I would tell something else to do,” he said, chuckling at the decisionthem, ‘so I can afford to farm,’” he said. This is the life making memory of his youth. It led to officers’ school. he settled into after leaving the Guard in 1995. He went However, to maintain his officer’s commission, he on to add chickens, a cow/calf operation and eventually needed 60 hours of college credit. He ignored it as long pecan trees. as he could but eventually got the hours needed with

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Wilchman survived a plane crash that killed his friend.

After an arduous extended recovery, he was "saved" by the work and purpose of planting and starting his pecan business.

Photo by Sharon Judkins, Petit Jean Country Headlight

The plane crash happened in 2004 when he and his friend failed to clear power lines at the end of a field.

Wilchman was badly burned on his arms and face. His friend was dead. “That was a low point for me, because I sat around for more than a year not really caring if the sun came up,” he said.

Wilchman got motivated when one of his son’s had a girlfriend whose grandfather had a pecan grove. His son asked him if they could plant some trees and try it.

“These pecan trees kind of saved me. It gave me a reason to get up in the morning again,” he said. “I can’t wait to get here in the mornings. I enjoy every minute out here.”

He knew nothing about pecans, so he went to Arkansas Tech. “I took the soils class, the weeds class and the fertilizer class. I took an array of classes there.”

Wilchman learned and loved it.

The plane almost killed him, but it was his poultry business that almost financially ruined him.

He had been introduced to raising chickens as a kid. He even bought his first chicken house at age 23. “I bought a couple of old chicken houses,” he said. They were obsolete by 2000. The company he was growing for then said he’d have to build new chicken houses if he wanted to continue growing for them. “Of course, I bit

Billy and Charlotte Wilchman earned the 2015 Western District Farm Family of the Year. They sell their pecans at farmers markets and online through their Facebook page Paw Paws Pecans.

Photo by Gregg Patterson

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When harvesting pecans, the first step is to shake the nuts from the trees; then vacuum them from the ground; dump the shell-covered pecans into a debris separator that gets rid of twig, leaf litter and other trash; bulk bag the pecans; or run them through a shell-cracking machine and separate the nut meat for packaging and sale.

Photos by Gregg Patterson

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on that,” he said, an underlying edge of anger emerging as he recounted the story.

“They called and said ‘do you want to build two more?’

“I did.

“They said, ‘you want to build two more?’

“So I did.

“Six months after I built the last one, they said, ‘we don’t need you anymore.’ They pulled out and said they were leaving the area."

It was 2008. He’d just rebuilt his house that had burned to the ground the year before. He lost his nursing job the following year.

“So there I am a million-five in debt for almost two years until Tyson came along and graciously picked us up. Financially, it took six to eight years to get over that,” Wilchman said. “That’s not counting the psychological effect it had on us. That contract didn’t mean a thing!”

He and Charlotte struggled through it and survived and then thrived. He’s out of the chicken business now, having recently sold his poultry houses. He considers himself a pecan grower now. Five-thousand-plus trees on 200 acres is proof of that. And he’s happy.

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“I learned at an early age in this farming business, you get out of it what you put into it. If you’re working in an office somewhere, you may work all week long and someone else gets the credit. But in this farming business, if you don’t do it, you get nothing. So you can only get something out of it if you put something into it,” he said.

Billy Wilchman stands amid his 5,000 pecan trees, a hot early fall breeze blowing steadily through his long hair. His eyes open wider, the late afternoon sunlight reflecting from them when I ask what satisfaction he gets from this pecan grove. He is thoughtful before answering. “I swell up with pride,” he says with unabashed humbleness. He stares down at his weathered, scarred hands. “I swell up with pride,” he repeats hoarsely.

From deep in the jungles of the Amazon River Basin to a sweeping pecan grove in the Arkansas River Basin, Billy Wilchman’s life plays out like an old movie saga on the silver screen. Life challenges us all, but it’s how we respond to those challenges that reveals our character – the depth of who we really are. The scars from life’s wounds are evident on Billy Wilchman, but he learned to persevere.

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For Arkansas Farm Bureau Members Excel Ford 2040 W. Main St. Cabot, AR 72023 501-843-3536 www.excelfordofcabot.com Ryburn Motor Company, Inc. 156 Highway 425 South Monticello, AR 71655 870-367-5353 www.ryburnautomotive.com

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Vaughn Ford Sales, Inc. 106 Hwy 63 West Marked Tree, AR 72365 870-358-2822 www.vaughnford.com

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TASTE ARKANSAS

Mom at the Meat Counter

by Rob Anderson

D

r. Janeal Yancey is a meat scientist.

No, that’s not a title made up by the Arby’s marketing team. It’s a real academic position at the University of Arkansas and at a time when people care more than ever about food safety and where their food comes from, it’s an important one.

Yancey earned both her master’s and doctorate degrees in meat science at Kansas State University. Her husband, Ed, is a researcher for Tyson Foods, and he also holds a doctorate in meat science. In fact, the couple met in graduate school and bonded over their mutual interests and similar backgrounds – both grew up around livestock.

The Yanceys continue to raise and show cattle but spend most of their time parenting their two daughters. It’s her role as a parent, Yancey says, that led her to add “blogger” to her list of titles.

“I realized from conversations that I was naturally having with other moms at gymnastics, the grocery store and wherever that there was a lot of information about meat and the meat industry they didn’t know, but I did,” Yancey explained.

Inspired by these interactions and by a former college friend who had also started blogging, Yancey in 2011, launched "Mom at the Meat Coumter." The blog (www. momatthemeatcounter.blogspot.com) also served as a natural companion activity for her work with students and “Moms on the Farm” tours she organized through the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences.

“I really wanted to contribute to the ‘mom club’ and help other moms feel better about the food they’re feeding their families and answer their questions,” she said, adding that the most common questions she gets are related to antibiotics and hormones.

“I explain to people that regardless of what’s on the

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label, these products are going to be free of antibiotics and they all naturally have hormones,” she said. “You can see the wave of relief that comes over them when they hear that.”

Originally from a small town in Texas, Yancey got involved with the National FFA Organization in high school and showed pigs and sheep. Her freshman year, she had a chance to join the meats judging team and she says that’s the day that “changed my life.”

“I’ve been going into meat packing plants and looking at carcasses since I was 14,” she said. “I worked in a grocery store when I was a student, and I’ve worked in a hot dog plant.”

On her blog, she posts about visits to meat packing facilities, other ranches and farms, grocery stores and more.

She says her life experience and her scientific background provide her credibility for her blogging efforts, but she says it’s actually her role as a mother that matters most.

“I have that knowledge base, because I’m a scientist.

But they trust me because I’m a mom,” she said.

Yancey blogs whenever she can, but she is also busy traveling across the country to engage in seminars, share her story and learn more about the subject she writes about. She also takes time to care for her own animals.

“I wear lots of hats in the industry, and one of them is cattle woman. We also have some sheep, so I’m also a sheep woman,” she said. “I get lots of questions about how we raise our animals and how we treat them, because people know that I’m that person. I may be the only farmer they know, so they come to me with questions about the whole industry.”

To see a video interview with Yancey, visit www.arfb. com or http://bit.ly/MeatCounter.

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Mobile Home

Owners: ROOF KING

Mobile Home Super Insulated Roof Over Systems 40 Year Warranty Factory Direct From Roof King

1-800-748-0645 Established in 1982

U. S. Postal Service Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation (Required by 39 U.S.C. 3685). 1. Publication title: Front Porch.

2. Publication number: 01-9879. 3. Filing date: 9/29/17. 4. Issue frequency: Quarterly. 5. No. of issues published annually: Four. 6. Annual Subscription Price: 0. 7. Complete mailing address of known office of publication: Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation, 10720 Kanis Road, Little Rock, AR 72211-3825. 8. Complete mailing address of headquarters of General Business office of Publisher: Same as #7. 9. Full names and complete mailing address of Publisher, Editor and Managing Editor: Publisher, Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation; Executive Editor, Steve Eddington; Editor, Gregg Patterson. All addresses same as #7. 10. Owner: Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation. 11. Know Bondholders, Mortgages and other Security Holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: None.

12. Tax Status: unchanged. 13. Publication title: Front Porch. 14. Issue date for Circulation date: Summer 2017. 15. Not Applicable. 15a. 185,384 (issue published nearest to filing date 188,395).

15b. 0 (most recent 0). 15c. 182,573 (most recent 187,975). 15d., 15e. Not Applicable. 15f. 182,573 (most recent 187,975). 15g. 405 (most recent 420).

15h.182,978 (most recent 188,395). 15i. Percent paid and/or requested circulation: 100%. 16. This statement of ownership will be printed in the Fall 2017 issue of the publication. 17. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager or Owner: Gregg Patterson Date: 9/29/17

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LAND & PEOPLE

At Home on the Range Loving the cowboy life

by Gregg Patterson

T

he look is unmistakable. One look at him, and you’d police horses are to where an officer could watch a squad of think Earl Pepper just walked onto the set of a western inmates working,” Pepper said. “Those kind of horses are hard movie, ready to star opposite John Wayne or Robert to find.”

Duvall. It’s certain, Pepper, who lives on a cattle ranch on the A rapidly expanding prison population meant the departoutskirts of DeQueen, is the genuine article. From his saddle ment had to up its game in the horse-raising business. Up until to his full, horseshoe-shaped snow-white mustache that frames that time, Pepper says he hadn’t done much horse breeding or his mouth, the 74-year-old who is past chair of Farm Bureau’s raised many colts. Earl Pepper and that animal science degree Equine Committee, is all cowboy. would soon be put to the test.

“I do not remember ever being without a horse,” Pepper “We developed some horses that were big, stout and gentle, said. He grew up on a north Alabama cotton farm near Athens, and we raised the colts out of gentle mares,” Pepper said. He and horses were always a part of the farm. His mother’s side of says the mares were the key. “Eventually, we had 50 brood the family was from Plainview, Texas, and he was attracted to mares, and all the mares were ones we had ridden and were the cowboy life he gentle. And their saw when visiting colts developed the there. “I decided I’d same way,” he said. a whole lot rather “We developed our ride a horse than own program and walk behind one,” raised the kind of he said. horses we needed.”

Pepper’s father Pepper explained also had a small all of this without number of cattle ever using the on the farm and word “I.” But when eventually added pressed about who more. That cinched led the breeding Earl Pepper’s life program and manas a cowboy. This aged the herd, he included stints as simply stated with a rodeo bull rider a chuckle, “Yes sir, and steer wrestling.

I was given that Pepper earned an responsibility,” a wry animal science desmile creasing his gree from Auburn face. “It landed University, taught Seventy-four-year-old Earl Pepper still punches cattle for a living and can't remember in my lap.” middle school Pepper says the ever being without a horse.

Photo by Keith Sutton science and was department lucked even a non-cowboy-like row-crop farmer for more than a into a Palomino stallion it bought that became the foundadecade in northeast Arkansas. tion of the herd. “He was a Two-Eyed Jack-bred horse,” he Then in 1987, came a job opportunity that would define his said. Pepper found that breeding gentle mares was essential to passion and love of horses and the cowboy lifestyle. “I just althe success in building the prison herd. Pepper says the most ways liked working horseback. And I’ve been fortunate to make important thing about raising horses is to raise them from a living doing that.” That job involved building and managing mares that will do what you’re wanting that horse to do. “I’m of the Arkansas Department of Correction’s horse herd, a job he the opinion that a mare is more important than the stallion. I’d loved for 27 years until he retired. He started at the Wrightsville rather have an outstanding mare for my purpose,” Pepper said.

Unit which ran a cow-calf operation. The director at the time “That’s my experience.” decided the prison system needed to be raising its own horses.

At its largest, the prison herd reached a little more than “We needed horses, and we needed big, stout horses; horses 500 horses. Pepper was in his element. That continues in that would stand 15.2(h) hands (in height) and weigh 1,200 “retirement” as he punches cows and lives the ranch life of pounds or more. And they needed to be gentle, similar to what a cowboy.

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IN THE KITCHEN

Muscadine Cake Unrepentant sweetness

by Gregg Patterson

A

friend once told me pie may be the AllAmerican dessert but cake is pure lust.

Taste Charlotte Wilchman’s Muscadine Cake, and you’ll certainly forever be caught up in “an overwhelming desire or craving” to experience it again… and again… and again.

It’s that good.

Charlotte and Billy Wilchman own and operate Paw Paws Pecans. They also grow muscadines. She is quick to point out that her version of this scrumptious cake is an adaptation of the recipe from another Arkansas agricultural icon, the Post family of wine-making fame.

Regardless of origin, it is sweetness in its sweetest form.

Charlotte prefers topping her cake with the muscadine glaze. However, she says another super-sweet option is to use a fork to prick holes into the top of the just-baked cake immediately when it’s removed from the oven. Then smear it with homemade muscadine jelly. The fork holes and heat of the freshly baked cake quickly absorb the jelly “icing.” I tried a different option and topped mine using a simple cream cheese icing after the cake fully cooled. It was spectacular!

Pecans may be the specialty of Paw Paws Pecans (Facebook, 501-514-5020), but muscadines are also grown on the farm.

And Charlotte Wilchman's Muscadine Cake will satisfy any sweet tooth.

Photo by Gregg Patterson

MUSCADINE CAKE For the cake: • 1 box of yellow cake mix • one 4-ounce box of instant vanilla pudding • 1 stick butter • 4 eggs • 11/4 cups of white muscadine juice For the glaze: • 4 tablespoons of white muscadine juice • 11/4 cups of powdered sugar

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Heat oven to 350 F. Mix in a large bowl, the dry ingredients of the cake mix and the pudding mix, butter, eggs and muscadine juice. Beat 4 minutes with a mixer. Pour batter into a 13” x 9” cake pan.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool while you make the glaze.

To make the glaze, whisk thoroughly the muscadine juice and powdered sugar in a small bowl. Use a toothpick to poke holes into the top of the cake, then cover the cake top with the glaze.

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continued from page 36

I imagined the students getting drinks of water from the hall fountain and spending the rest of the afternoon coloring.

“You can work on your essay until the bell rings. It’s due tomorrow,” Mrs. Simpkins said. According to the clock above the chalkboard, we had 30 minutes until the final bell.

My blank sheet of notebook paper looked as vast and vacant as the playground emptied of first-graders.

We spent our first night in Texarkana, in a motel on the Texas side of the town. My sister and I had never been to Texas, and a town spread into two states was a cool thing. I bet living there was confusing though. Daddy said Louisiana was close by, but we didn’t have time to see it. "Maybe on the way home," he said, only to keep us quiet.

Houston during rush hour felt as far removed from our farm as any place I’d ever been. “Don’t say a word until we get through Houston,” Momma warned with a sharp look to the back seat and a wag of her rose-painted fingernail.

Daddy gripped the steering wheel and maneuvered underneath scrambled overpasses that reached high into the endless sky. I stared out the window and held my breath until we escaped to the other side of the city.

Momma did a good job of handling the music on our

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trip. As one radio station broke into static, she twisted the dial searching for the next closest and clearest station. Magically, it seemed that every station from Memphis to McAllen played “Rhinestone Cowboy” on repeat. Even though Daddy was more partial to Willie and Waylon and Linda Ronstadt, I also learned he liked Glen Campbell. Every time “Rhinestone Cowboy” came on, we all sang along. That was a first.

A blackbird landed on the windowsill and stared right at me, his marble eye so black it glinted blue. “It’s almost time for the bell to ring. Go ahead and get your things together,” Mrs. Simpkins said.

I closed my notebook, and the bird flitted off. Later, I'd have lots more to write about including our second night in South Texas and our third morning crossing the border into Mexico. I stared at the slow-moving clock and wondered if Daddy only liked Glen Campbell because he was from Arkansas. Or maybe he felt relieved that for a short time while we were crammed together in the car, my sister and I were stuck on a song not being crooned by Tony Orlando and Dawn. Regardless, it seemed Mr. Campbell wrote that song especially for our vacation. “Rhinestone Cowboy” may have been our road trip salvation.

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DELTA CHILD

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

by Talya Tate Boerner

F

all was predictable, yet somehow always surprised me.

The way lightning bugs disappear with no warning.

The way lake time becomes dream-like and distant. In a blink, the smell of pencil shavings and chalk dust replaced the aroma of suntan lotion and barbecue. And now another fall certainty taunted me. The first essay of the school year – “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” – felt like summer’s final stab in the heart, one painful last reminder of the change to come. Teachers couldn’t get on with important lessons like world geography without first knowing what everyone did during summer. Being nosy was a teacher requirement.

This particular year, for the first time in my six years of schooling, I could report something beyond a trip to the Memphis Zoo and a sweltering week of Vacation Bible School. Our family had taken a trip to Old Mexico – a foreign country! (Not to be confused with New Mexico, which was a regular state.) Daddy had a farmer friend who had moved there to farm cotton. Moving seemed drastic and unnecessary considering Mississippi County was the best cotton-growing place in the country, but that was beside the point. Finally, I had something worthwhile to write.

“Your essay should have a beginning, middle and an end,” Mrs. Simpkins said as she cleaned the board with broad swipes of the eraser. From my desk, I could see the first-graders climbing on the monkey bars and bobbing up and down on the seesaw. Their lighthearted laughter drifted through our classroom windows providing a summer soundtrack for the assignment. I wrote “What I Did on My Summer Vacation" at the top of a blank piece of notebook paper, then added my name in the right-hand corner.

Momma believed the fun of any vacation was in getting there. Her theory didn't hold entirely true on our trip. Thanks to the oil crisis, the interstate speed limit was painfully capped

at 55 miles per hour. Slow driving translated into three long days packed in Momma's Oldsmobile, my sister and me in the back seat (of course), with Daddy driving (of course), while Momma unfolded and refolded roadmaps, not to his liking.

Even though our vacation officially began when we pulled from the gravel drive, everyone still had jobs. Daddy’s job was to drive without speeding, to pay for expenses along the way and to crack the window when he smoked cigarettes.

Momma’s job was to navigate us from northeast Arkansas to the border of Mexico, ration the food and drinks she’d packed in Daddy’s John Deere cooler and find music on the radio. My sister and I were tasked with not whining, not being loud and not asking, if we were there yet.

“Students, you’ll be graded on your handwriting, too.”

Mrs. Simpkins wrote “Summer Vacation” on the board in flawless cursive handwriting. Each letter flowed seamlessly into the next. On the playground, four giggly girls held hands and frolicked in a circle. “Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.” They collapsed onto the freshly cut grass. Life was simple for them, I thought. But soon, maybe next year, they too would be forced to write The Essay.

On the other side of Little Rock, the car began rumbling and jarring as though we’d turned onto a gravel road. Daddy cut his eyes to Momma. I knew what he was thinking. Since it was Momma’s car, our flat tire was Momma’s fault. In a stroke of travel luck, a rest area appeared just when we needed it.

Daddy pulled off the highway and unpacked the entire trunk to get to the spare. Momma dragged the cooler to one of the picnic tables and spread out a nice lunch. We ate ham sandwiches, while the hot sun seemed to sit down with us.

Out on the playground, Mrs. Hilliard motioned and called to the first-graders. They formed a wiggly line beside her and disappeared around the corner of the school and back inside. continued on page 35

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