We crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas. It rained off and on as we made our way to our next destination. Paw Paw's Pecans is a 300 acre pecan orchard in Atkins, Arkansas. Several miles of dirt roads brought us to a pecan tree-lined lane with a gorgeous plantation house standing stately at the end.
It looked like it had been there for generations but we soon learned that it was built only five years ago by the owners, Billy and Charlotte. Their story was an inspiring one. They've done a little of everything: he served a career term in the army, they are both in the medical field, they raised 200K chickens at a time for many years, she quilts beautifully, makes the most incredible fudge I've ever tasted, and they also run a bed and breakfast from their home.
And the thing I loved the most was how unassuming they both were. They know that their success has come from forty years of hard work... and they just keep working. They enjoy what they do and it shows.
Billy took us through the process of harvesting pecans. He let the kids ride in the tractor with him, showed us how to pick pecans up by hand after shaking them from the tree. We worked for an hour and collected three five-gallon buckets full. We were proud. Billy then showed us how he collects the fallen pecans with an attachment on the tractor and he gathered twice as many as we had in under ten minutes.
We then dumped them all into a sorting machine and helped pick out rocks and bad pecans before filling several bags with the good ones. Billy took us to the processing room where he showed us how he weighs and bags the pecans still in their shells, ready for sale. That same machine is also able to shell the pecans.
I was in heaven, learning about all of this. It held the kids interest as well! Billy was a sweetheart and told the kids they'd earned their wages for a day's work.
We spent a lot of time walking through the pecan trees. It was tranquil during the day and ethereal in the early morning mist.
No adventure would be complete without something unexpected. It rained while we were here and on our way back from running errands Bert got stuck in the mud. Josh handled it well but even with his expert handling we still required the assistance of Billy and his tractor.
Overall it was a wonderful stay at Paw Paw's Pecans and our second excellent Harvest Hosts experience. As we drove away we had a bonus surprise of seeing a bald eagle! Someone picking up pecans had mentioned they'd seen an eagle's nest and to keep an eye out. As we drove the dirt roads back to the highway Caden actually spotted the eagle. None of us had seen one in real life and we wouldn't have know to be looking for it had it not been mentioned. It was really neat to see.
Next stop, Oklahoma and Lake Eufaula State Park!
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