Northwest Arkansas
(Page 4 of 6)
September/October 1986
By the Mother Earth News editors
Climate and Agriculture
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The growing season in the Ozarks is about 180 days. The first killing frosts usually occur in late October and the last in late April. Real winter weather, however, normally doesn't set in until late December and ends around the first of March (except for occasional short cold spells). But if anything is unpredictable, it's the weather in northwest Arkansas. Having said that, I should point out that Fayetteville's average daily high is 70.7°F; its average low is 46.2°; its average precipitation is 46.2 inches, with the wettest period lasting from March through May. Average temperatures in January range from a high of 46.2° to a low of 23.3°. In July, the average high is 89.9° and the average low is 66.6°. There are occasional below-zero temperatures in January and February, and seldom will July and August pass without a few days of 100° or so.
Tornadoes out of Oklahoma and Kansas hit the area from time to time in a widely varied pattern, but the region's excellent early warning system has saved many lives.
As to farming in the region, poultry and cattle are the livestock choices, though you will also find show sheep, horses, and rabbits.
Crops are very diversified and seem to follow trends. Strawberries, apples, and tomatoes have been favorites in the past and are still grown commercially, but now the big market is for blueberries. (Raspberries and blackberries are also gaining in popularity.)
Grapes are another long-term investment well suited to the climate and soil. Many vineyards are found northwest of Fayetteville near Tontitown (population 615), which was settled by Italian immigrants and has its own Catholic school and two popular Italian restaurants. Some of the grapes are sold to the descendants of Swiss-Germans who settled near Altus, Arkansas, on the extreme southern border of the Ozarks and whose Wiederkehr Wine Cellars produce superior wines and champagnes.
Most small growers, whatever the crop, depend on very well organized agricultural co-ops to market their produce. For example, the Arkansas Blueberry Growers Association contracts to buy all the berries produced by its members, and the Ozark Organic Growers Association tests and certifies its members' soil and runs a truck of organic produce to Dallas twice a week.
The Cultural Climate
The importance of the University of Arkansas to the cultural climate of the region can't be overrated. Its 14,000 students are enrolled in the Colleges of Agriculture and Home Economics, Architecture, Arts, Sciences, Business Administration, Education, Engineering, and Law, and in the Graduate School. Aside from the cultural events sponsored by the university itself, Fayetteville attracts many artists and performers on national tours. Theater groups also abound in the region.
People here have a strong sense of history, too. Arkansas was a constant battleground during the Civil War, and the tiny town of Prairie Grove, though it doesn't have a traffic light, preserved the Prairie Grove Battlefield until it was eventually turned into a state park. (A larger Civil War battlefield, Pea Ridge National Military Park, is in northeast Benton County.)
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