My Favorite Century Farm in North Little Rock, and a Summary of my Recent Visit to Waco, Texas

Episode № 95 is where I catch you up on some things that have been keeping me busy recently.

Transcript

Episode № 95 My Favorite Century Farm in North Little Rock, and a Summary of my Recent Visit to Waco, Texas

Welcome back!
Lady Jupiter Podcast is the audio accompaniment to LadyJupiter.com a lifestyle blog where I write about my family’s military life, our home life, and other tiny details that I just like to share. I’m happy that you’re here with me.
In this episode I’ll share an update on our life as affected by the U.S. military, (including something that I enjoy about our current duty station), then continue with a blog update, and wrap up with something domestic.

Today in our military-affected lives I have nothing significant to update.

Life continues as expected. Mister Jupiter works around the country, Kid Jupiter and I manage the house, dogs, and all of the daily home stuff.

Since it’s been a while, I wanted to share something that I enjoy in the area - something that I will miss when we PCS from Little Rock AFB. It’s Saint Joseph’s Farm Stand, really the entire farm. I still haven’t toured the whole building, so I can’t relay the same information. But I can easily tell you that The Saint Joseph Center of Arkansas is a century farm, because it’s been farmland for over 100 years. It’s just outside of Camp Robinson in North Little Rock, so it’s not surrounded by urban city life; it’s calm and quiet. The building was an orphanage, a school, a nursing home, a day care, an Army officer’s hotel in World War I, and that’s just the history from my memory. The building and land are still owned by the Diocese of Little Rock, but it’s all managed by the Saint Joseph Center of Arkansas - an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit who signed a 50 year lease to prevent the sale of that land and historic building.
📌 stjosephcenter.org

Despite my aggressive allergies, we love dropping in on weekends to walk a bit and shop the farm stand to support the non-profit. We can buy milk in glass bottles, local jams and jellies, local breads and pastries, eggs from their chickens, a wide variety of non-commercial butchered meats, plus cheeses, fresh mushrooms, and whatever the seasonal crop is in the gardens a few yards away. It’s pretty much my dream market because everything is local, literally farm fresh, with minimal processing. When we visit we walk a bit with Kid Jupiter and we visit the goats and cows. Last summer I took a hot sauce class - it was the last of their summer preservation class series and I loved it. They host naturalist day camps for kids, and goat yoga when weather permits.
📌 stjosephcenter.org/calendar

Speaking of permits - one of the sheds has been labeled something beer-related, I didn’t take a photo, and I don’t remember if it was christened (maybe literally) as a Beer Shed or Beer Barn. Either way, I’m hoping that they can sell beer to the public before we move because I want to support that endeavor also.

I’ll throw some of their links into the show notes - including my favorite list of production garden crops that break down their seasonal crops. At the time of recording we are in radish and winter squash season. My birthday is in June, so I’m looking forward to some blackberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, and summer squashes before we PCS to a different growing region.
📌 stjosephcenter.org/farm#ProductionGardens

For today’s LadyJupiter.com update…I started Outfits of The Day Q4, and it contains half of what I wore in October and November. Click the link in the show notes if you’re nosy or just plain curious about what I wear most days. Expect comfy clothes because I can’t be bothered otherwise.
📌 ladyjupiter.com/2022/11/21/outfits-of-the-day-q4

And lastly something domestic.

I promised you some Waco, Texas talk, so here we go!

Each year around Mister Jupiter’s birthday, my sister steals me to celebrate her birthday instead. It’s silly and fun, we look forward to it every year.

This year Waco, Texas won our patronage. Another perk of our annual trip is that my sister and mother-in-law have so much fun picking local restaurants, cafes, and such, that I don’t have to pick anything. A few days of no decisions is refreshing. Well, I do pick my own cocktails and meals, but that’s it. I just follow along and relax.

We stayed in an AirBnB near the Silos, but didn’t actually have time to see the Silos. Also we were there a few days before Magnolia’s annual “Silo-bration” which resulted in a lot of surprise road closures in the area because vendors and such were already setting up. Apparently they also constructed a temporary roller skating rink? I didn’t absorb too many details since we planned to leave Waco before the event.

Anyhoo, my first night started with our gift exchange, followed by a tex-mex dinner. I was unusually skilled at ordering my own meals this year, and started off with three favorites immediately; ceviche, jalapeño margarita with added serrano, and choco-flan. We all hopped into the hot tub later…during a tornado watch. It wasn’t too bad. The cold, sideways rain only prompted us to increase the bubble action. We were on a covered patio - and we would have gone indoors to shelter if we needed to.
📌 Hecho en Waco menus

The next day, my intrepid tour guides planned a lunch and post-meal shopping afternoon on a homestead compound about 15 minutes outside of Waco. Homestead Heritage is essentially an agrarian community that lives and works the same several acres, and they have a…common religion. My preferred descriptors may sound disparaging, so I will omit them today because we had a wonderful time. Every single community member we encountered was genuinely kind, and happy to see us. We had a great lunch, then explored on foot because we easily could. We visited the blacksmith, the woodworkers, the fiber artists, and the grist mill to name a few. I bought cheesemaking accessories and a small bottle of their apple cider vinegar. It was definitely a dreamy space - especially for my ADHD brain. Part of me really wants to slide into an Amish community and be the community’s stern (but reliable) technical editor, but the other part of me wants 3am bingo in Las Vegas, or the ramen-scented cacophony of a Tokyo panchino parlor.
📌 homesteadheritage.com

After immersing ourselves in wholesome values for like…three hours we had to break out. Waco is home to Balcones Distilling and we popped in for cocktails…and bottle shopping. I bought Mister Jupiter a special smokey whiskey that was only available if you asked for it (the stock was too low to keep it in the shop - according to our bartending cashier). It’s nice.
📌 balconesdistilling.com

After a shopping bag drop at the AirBnB, my sister and I embarked on our private adventure. We had a spa date. Specifically, a beer spa date where we literally bathed in super hot hop water, in gorgeous copper tubs, while also drinking beer and enjoying a plate of nibbles from the restaurant downstairs. It was pretty amazing.
📌 pivovar.com

We both picked the red beer to drink, and our bathtubs were the same boiled hops - from the restaurant brewery downstairs. We added water to our personal temperature and depth preferences. This was downtown at Pivovar. It’s a small building, where the restaurant and brewery is most visible and accessible from the ground floor. The hotel (with the beer spa) is one little door separate from the restaurant, but within the same building. A fantastic use of space if you ask me. We soaked in our respective tubs for an entire hour - and when our time was up, we just drained our tubs and left. I expected someone to knock on the door and give us a five minute warning, but they didn’t. It was nice being treated like an adult, and similarly we left things tidy and expressed our gratitude on the way out.
📌 pivovar.com/beer-spa

It would have been nice to linger - but we had plans. Specifically dinner reservations at Moroso Wood Fired Pizzeria. My theme of only ordering what I REALLY WANTED continued this night too. I didn’t even order pizza (but not to say that I didn’t eat any, because I definitely ate some pizza, I just didn’t order my own and I accepted handouts). I needed vegetables, so I ordered their house salad, I needed wine so I ordered chianti. I’ve learned that I operate best with very little refined carbohydrates, so my main meal was two sides - brussels sprouts (which were amazing), and sauteed shrimp. We tend to eat family style, and this was good because I was sent more brussels than I could eat…especially since I was saving room for dessert. I have to order espresso in Italian restaurants, and if it comes with a side of gelato…then I am ready. Yum.
📌 facebook.com/morosowoodfiredpizzeria

The next day we checked out and all drove back to our respective homes. After one sleep in my home Mister Jupiter and I packed one big bag and took our baby boy to Denver for his first convention as detailed in episode #94.
📌 Lady Jupiter Podcast Episode #94

But don’t worry - the whirlwind continued!

After A/TA Denver, Mister Jupiter was back at work and Kid Jupiter was sick. As he recovered, I got sick. Then all of a sudden it was Thanksgiving and I recorded something special for you

***I woke up on Thanksgiving Day without a voice! After hot tea, hot coffee, and some vocal rest I have a voice again. I look forward to my usual voice coming back! I haven’t been this hoarse in years. At least now I can record it for no particular reason. Happy holidays!***

But as you can hear - my voice is mostly back. I’m still a little congested, and my sinuses have mostly stopped clicking. I can clear my ears again, so that’s nice. It’s been a busy few weeks.

And that’s it for today’s episode.

Show notes and transcript are available online; swing by LadyJupiter.com/podcast. 📌Ladyjupiter.com/Podcast

If you enjoyed today's show, share Lady Jupiter Podcast with a friend! I'm available where fine podcasts are found like Apple Podcasts, Mixerbox, and Overcast.

And while we're here, I want to share my appreciation for my listeners in the USA - looking at you Lubbock, Texas and Arlington, Virginia. But also Japan - Toyota taking a clear lead over Tokyo, and of course my friends in Germany and Indonesia. As usual I am very curious about which of you are using VPNs but I am also willing to be surprised. Also I am easily surprised, to that’s a thing. Thank YOU just the same ❤️

I will talk to you when I can record next. 

—Bye for now!