Latest / The Kevin Stone Podcast / Episode #49 - "A Saturday Morning in Ozark"

Transcript

Episode #49 - "A Saturday Morning in Ozark" · The Kevin Stone Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Some podcasts have experts. This is not one of those podcasts.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: This is one guy, a microphone, a cup of coffee,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and absolutely no guarantee where any of this is going.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: From small town Arkansas to Washington, D.C., from politics and
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: current events to history, space, faith, and whatever else happens
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to get under his skin. He'll ask the questions. He'll
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: give you his opinion. And every once in a while,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: he might even know what he's talking about. No fancy degree,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: no corporate talking points, just an ordinary guy trying to
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: make sense of an increasingly strange world. Ladies and gentlemen,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: this is the Kevin Stone Podcast.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Well, it's Saturday morning here in Ozark, Arkansas, and I
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: decided to grab my camera and head downtown to check
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: out the market on the square. I've been wanting to
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: get out and do a little more around the community,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: meet some folks, and show you some of the good
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: things we've got going on right here in our backyard.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: And I knew the market was going on this morning,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: so I figured it'd be a pretty good place to start. Besides,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: I was hoping Yachtley Bee Company would be there because
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I was running low on some of their honey. And
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: I'm telling you, that stuff is good. But I found
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: a whole lot more than honey. There were folks selling
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: homemade baked goods, woodworking, jewelry, crafts, decorations, and all kinds
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: of other things. I got to visit with some really
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: nice people. Had some good conversations. and came home with
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: a few goodies. So I thought we'd take a little
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: trip around the square this morning and let you see
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: some of the people and small businesses that make this
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: community special. You know, one of the things I really
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: enjoyed about the market wasn't necessarily what people were selling.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: It was the people themselves. There were folks shopping, looking
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: at different booths, but there were also plenty of people
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: just standing around visiting. I got into a conversation with
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: one gentleman who just walked up and started talking to me.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Turns out we both served in the military. He grew
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: up here in Ozark, and I grew up over in Russellville.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: So naturally, we got to talking about the good old days.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: And somewhere during that conversation, he noticed my podcast t-shirt.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: He looked at the front and looked at the back.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: He said, the Kevin Stone podcast, huh? So I stuck
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: out my hand and said, yep, my name's George. And
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: he got it. We both had a good laugh. But
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: that's what I enjoyed about being down there. People weren't
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: just buying and selling things. They were visiting, sharing stories,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: and enjoying each other's company. Sometimes the best thing that
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: you find at a local market isn't something you can buy. Now,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: you know I wasn't going to walk around a market
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: full of homemade goodies and come home empty-handed. One of
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: the first places I stopped was a booth that had
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: a sign saying guilt-free treats. They had homemade sweets, yard eggs,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: and several other things. Well, I picked up some homemade
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: banana nut bread muffins. And folks, I'm telling you, those
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: things are good. I've already eaten one, and I'm pretty
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: sure the others aren't going to survive very long. Now,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: I don't know who came up with the name guilt-free treats,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: but I'm choosing to believe that means I can eat
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: every one of those muffins without feeling the least bit guilty,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: and I'm sticking with that interpretation. Now, there's one vendor
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: I was particularly hoping would be at the market this morning,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: and that's Yachtley Bee Company out of Alma, Arkansas. I
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: bought some honey from these folks before, and I'm telling you,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: that stuff's outstanding. So I was hoping they'd be there
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: because I wanted another jar. And sure enough, they were there.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: I got to spend some time visiting with Jeff and Tabitha.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: And Jeff and I had a pretty lengthy conversation about
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: what goes into producing their honey. And folks, I had
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: no idea just how much work was involved. Jeff was
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: explaining the process to me. And it's something they work
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: on throughout the year. Now, I'm not even going to
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: pretend that I can sit here and explain everything he
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: told me because there's a whole lot more to it
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: than I realized. But I came away with a whole
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: new appreciation for what goes into a jar of honey.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: And this right here is the results. Raw, local, unfiltered honey.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: This is the second time I've bought from them. And
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: I can tell you from personal experience, I really like
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: this stuff. And I'm not being paid to advertise it.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I'm just a customer who found something good and wanted
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: to share it with you. And that's one of the
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: things I like about these local markets. You don't just
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: get to buy something. Sometimes you get to meet the
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: people who produce it and learn a little bit about
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: what they do. So Jeff and Tabitha, it was a
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: pleasure to visit with you, and thank you for taking
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: the time to tell me about the beefs. Now, honey
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: and banana nut bread muffins weren't the only things you
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: could find down at the market. There was a little
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: bit of everything. Folks had woodworking projects, handmade decorations, jewelry, plants, crafts,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: and all other kinds of things. And some of this
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: stuff was really impressive. You could tell people had put
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: some time and effort into what they were making. That's
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: something I appreciate about these little markets. You're not just
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: walking into a store and grabbing something off a shelf.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: A lot of what you're looking at is something somebody
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: actually made with their own hands. And I've enjoyed walking around,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: looking at everything, and visiting with the people running the booths. Now,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: I didn't get everybody's name, and that's something I'm going
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: to work on as I get out and do more
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: of these community features. But I certainly appreciated everybody taking
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: the time to visit with me and allowing me to
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: take photographs to share with you folks. And if you
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: haven't been to one of these markets, I'd encourage you
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: to check one out when you get the opportunity. You
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: might find something you didn't know that you needed. Or
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: if you're like me, you might come looking for honey
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: and go home with banana nut bread muffins too. Well folks,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: that's a little look at how I spent my Saturday
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: morning here in Ozark, Arkansas. And you know, I came
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: home with some really good honey, some outstanding banana nut
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: bread muffins, and quite a few pictures. But I think
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: the best thing that I brought home was a reminder
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: of just what kind of community we have here. Everybody
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: I talked to was friendly. People were willing to stop
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: and visit, share a story, or just have a conversation.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: And it wasn't just with me. Everywhere I looked, people
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: were visiting with each other. And that's something special. You know,
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: we spend a lot of time talking about what's wrong
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: with our communities. And sometimes there are things that need
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: to be fixed. There's nothing wrong with asking questions and
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: expecting answers. But I think it's just as important that
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: we recognize what's right with our communities. Because what I
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: saw this morning reminded me of three things. What kind
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: of community we have, what kind of community we need
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: to protect, and what kind of community we need to promote.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: And I'm not talking about buildings, streets, or even businesses.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about the people. The people who live here.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: work here, raise their families here, and take the time
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: to be good neighbors. That's what makes a community worth
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: caring about. Now, from what I understand, the market is
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: getting close to wrapping things up for the winter season,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: and I hate to see it go, but I certainly
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: hope to be back when it gets going again, and
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: I hope to get out and visit more places like
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: this around Franklin County and the Arkansas River Valley. Because
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of good out there worth showing folks.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: And apparently, there's some pretty good food out there too.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: At this rate, I'm going to have to start walking
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: to these places instead of driving. Otherwise, I'm going to
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: need a bigger podcast t-shirt. But seriously, thank you to
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: everybody who took the time to visit with me this morning.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: And thank you for spending a little time of your
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: day here with me on the Kevin Stone Podcast. You
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: can find us on YouTube, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: and Spreaker. Until next time, take care of yourselves, look
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: out for your neighbors, and God bless.