Rural Missouri - July 2011 - (Page 3)

C O N T E N T S Features 4 Departments Comments National and statewide news Columns Hart to heart 8 Raising the Great White Arabia Sunken treasure found beneath a cornfield 5 10 Now showing: rural broadband Missouri’s rural electric cooperatives bring high-speed Internet to members 8 15 Out of the Way Eats Pin Oak Hill 20 Hearth and Home We be smokin’! 22 News Briefs News you can use 28 Marketplace Classified ads 13 16 Missouri snapshots Enter our 2011 photo contest The changing tide Jackson tastes victory in southwest Missouri Prairie 18 18 Pyrotechnic pros Passion for pyrotechnics leads to explosive business for Matt Sutcliffe 30 Around Missouri Missouri happenings 32 Neighbors Meet “Bobber” Bill 34 Just4Kids Fun stuff from Buddy 24 Sting of relief Mary Reed uses honeybee stings as a more natural pain reliever 26 Harmony Heart of America Chorus keeps barbershop music tradition alive 32 About our cover riving past thousands of acres of fertile, flat farmland in Missouri’s Bootheel region, it is hard to imagine that at one time, the area was one of the largest hardwood swamplands in the country. In the wake of the saws and axes that harvested the cypress and tupelo trees and the large dredges that channeled the water off the land into deep ditches, most of southeast Missouri looks vastly different from when settlers first arrived in the area in the 19th century. Featured on this month’s cover is one of the few remaining Missouri swamplands — Mingo National Wildlife Refuge — viewed from the overlook of Monopoly Marsh. Mingo was formed in an abandoned channel of the Mississippi River after an earthquake caused the river to cross Crowley’s Ridge and shift east to its present channel more than 18,000 years ago. Cover and photo at left by Kyle Spradley. D Today, the 21,592-acre refuge contains natural bottomland forests and marshes that are valuable as food and shelter for wildlife. A major highlight for some is the chance to see mature native bald cypress and water tupelos with their characteristic fluted trunks often growing in standing water. Throughout the year, the more than 100,000 annual visitors have some of the best chances in the state of witnessing migratory birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals while taking the auto-tour routes and boardwalk hikes. Herons, bald eagles, otters and wood ducks are common sights. Kayak or canoe the Mingo River for an up-close look at the lilies, lotus and cypress knees rising from the water. Check the visitor center for fishing and hunting regulations. Mingo is located near Puxico, off Highway 51 just 12 miles north of Highway 60. For more information on the refuge, visit www.fws.gov/midwest/Mingo or call 573-222-3589. To order prints of these photos, see page 29. JULY 2011 3 http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Mingo

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - July 2011

Rural Missouri - July 2011
Table of Contents
Comments
Columns
Raising the Great White Arabia
Now showing: rural broadband
Missouri snapshots
Out of the Way Eats
The changing tide
Pyrotechnic pros
Hearth and Home
News Briefs
Sting of relief
Harmony
Marketplace
Around Missouri
Neighbors
Just4Kids

Rural Missouri - July 2011