Two brothers share single passion of painting

by Sara Schafer  |  sschafer@ruralmissouri.coop

The shelves explode with color — rows of artillery shells, sparklers, smoke bombs, parachutes and fountains are waiting for a match and the ultimate small-town celebration. American flags, streamers and hand-drawn signs spackle nearly every inch of wall space. Amid the fireworks stand’s sensory overload, smooth jazz hums through the speakers. Each armed with brushes and paints, two brothers create magic on canvas. 

One brother, Jon, wields his brush with precision, layering oil paints into lifelike portraits that could be mistaken for photographs. The other, Mike, heads for outer space, stretching limbs, and exploring color and crafting surreal dreamscapes. Their styles couldn’t be more different — order versus imagination — but their brotherly bond and incredible talent run deep.

Raised in Moberly, Mike and Jon Wolf have used their Midwestern roots to make their artistic mark on everything from paintings that will pass through generations to book covers to beer labels. Whether painting in the open air by the ocean or beside a table of sparklers in their family’s fireworks stand, the two make art that pops.

Mike and Jon grew up in an artistic family. Their father, Gayle, was a hobby painter and their mother, Mary Ellen, was a craft artist. “My dad taught me one-point perspective when I was 6,” Jon recalls. Mike was inspired at an equally young age, as he can remember standing in front of Picasso’s “Woman with Yellow Hair” in Chicago when he was 7. Based on their exposure to art, it’s no surprise Jon drifted toward impressionism and realism while Mike pursued pop surrealism. 

The brothers studied art in high school with teacher Ed Miller, and they both won the state art competition. They considered nonartistic occupations but have each spent the last several decades as professional painters. “I cannot not be doing this,” Jon says of painting. “That’s why if I go on vacation, I’ll take my sketchbook. My motto is ‘Always be drawing — ABD.’ ”

Both brothers, members of Macon Electric Cooperative, spent decades out west in California but now spend more time back in Moberly to be near their parents. Each summer they manage the fireworks business, Boomers, which has been owned by their family since 1987. 

Jon leans into elements of design, such as line, form, color, texture, space, variety, rhythm, balance, unity and emphasis. Then he adds his own flair. “I would go to a gallery and study brush strokes from one painting to the next, trying to figure out how to reverse engineer it,” he says. 

In Jon’s portfolio, you’ll find paintings and sketches of city landmarks, memorable faces, frothy oceans, fields with cows, bright yellow ginkgo trees and whiskey on ice. “I’m more apt to paint what I’m around,” he says. “In California I’ll paint seascapes and cityscapes and then when I’m back home, my paintings are very Missouri-ish.”

Mike’s creative journey centers on wild and unexpected subjects. One painting features a striking monkey in heart-shaped glasses, another showcases three bees slurping from a martini glass and another captures a levitating Mark Twain in neon hues. 

“They say every painting is somewhat a self-portrait, and there is always something of me in every painting — even if it’s hard to see,” Mike says. “In the late ’80s and early ’90s, my work seemed really weird. At that time, it was extreme. Now it doesn’t seem so weird.”

Mike says his art draws inspiration from both his rural upbringing and his city living experiences, often juxtaposing the two and highlighting humor. This unique perspective of art is what led Mike’s art to be featured on hundreds of thousands of cans of beer brewed by Logboat Brewing Co. Mike and Jon have been longtime friends with the founders of the Columbia-based brewery. When the group started brainstorming the business idea back in the mid-2010s, they asked Mike to create a logo. 

Mike sketched the logo featuring passengers in a dugout canoe on a bar napkin. That led to Mike and Jon investing in the brewery and Mike’s artwork being showcased in the brewery and on its wide offerings of craft beers.

“The brewers would flip through my old sketchbook, and then they’d make up a beer name to go with it,” Mike says. “Snapper and Lookout were our first names for beers.” Snapper is an American IPA that has a can design adorned with a green snapping turtle, while Lookout is an American pale ale featuring a frazzled and colorful owl. 

Another customer favorite is Shiphead, an American wheat illustrated with a woman whose hair forms a ship with yellow sails. “I lost the original painting of ‘Shiphead’ in a fire, along with 28 other pieces,” Mike says. “But one of the managing partners, Andrew, just loved that painting and told me to redo it. So, I did and it became one of the core brands of beer.”

Now the Logboat crew may suggest a subject, such as the golden ale, Stormin’ Norman. For that Mike created a watercolor-type portrait of the famed Mizzou basketball coach. “There’s a lot of sketches that wouldn’t have even become paintings if it wasn’t discussed as being a label,” Mike says. “So working with Logboat has been a good stimulator for new paintings.”

Both brothers sell their art through their personal websites and promote it on their social media channels. They will do commissions, and they encourage people to stop by Boomers to peruse art as they buy fireworks. Overall, seeing their art in person is the best experience.

“When I take a photograph of a painting, it doesn’t come out nearly as accurate,” Jon says. “With landscapes, there’s no character to convey, so you rely on the colors and texture. When people pick up a painting, they are often surprised by how much better it looks in real life.” 

Mike and Jon say they are each other’s biggest artistic influences. When in the studio together, they share inside jokes as they create masterpieces that will grace everything from a new brew to a gallery wall. “Paintings are historical vestiges you can physically touch,” Jon says. “They’re handmade; they’re emotional. Paintings are items you pass down to your children.”

To see more artwork by Mike and Jon Wolf, visit www.mikewolfart.com and www.wolfoilpaintings.com or follow them on Instagram at @mikewolfart and
@superbrotherx. You can buy prints from Mike at Logboat’s birthday celebration on May 7 in Columbia. 

Originally Appeared Here

SEMO students can earn drone degree

by Paul Newton  |  pnewton@ruralmissouri.coop

The slight buzz from the spinning propellers rises and falls as a trio of drones passes. At the northeast corner of Cape Girardeau, students split into two groups, each carefully navigating their drones overhead along planned paths. They aren’t flying for fun though — this is drone school.

Equipped with thermal cameras, they are searching for deer. “In the fall there’s a managed deer hunt in these parks,” says Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) instructor Andrew Chronister. “We’re trying to see how effective that hunt is. For the last three years, we’ve come out here to count the deer with our drones and we give that data to our biology department to process, which in turn works with the Missouri Department of Conservation.”

Andrew leads SEMO’s unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) program — the only bachelor’s degree of its kind in Missouri. The program prepares students for a broad range of careers in drone technology.

Before joining SEMO, Andrew spent 25 years as a video producer. While capturing aerial footage of buildings, he became fascinated with drones. His passion led him to build his own drone and eventually join the university as an advisor for agricultural drone technology. The UAS program was established at SEMO in 2017, and Andrew took over three years later.

“We’re trying to create well-rounded drone professionals,” Andrew says. “People who cannot just fly the drones, but manage departments and things like that.”

The curriculum covers a variety of other topics drone pilots need to know far beyond flying. Throughout their four years, students take classes on meteorology, GIS, basic circuits, microcomputer maintenance, technical communication, physics and more.

The first core drone class most students take is the fundamentals of aviation where they learn what makes an aircraft fly. Students start to become familiar with drones in UAS fundamentals where Andrew prepares them for their Part 107 FAA test so they can fly commercially. Another class focuses on remote sensing technology and students in the UAS design class build a drone from the ground up. Another class focuses on drone laws, policy and safety.

One of the final classes is UAS mission planning. “That’s where we take all the knowledge that we learned in the previous classes and we wrap it all up and go out and fly various types of missions, like counting the deer,” Andrew says. “We fly various missions like thermal, multispectral, hyperspectral and photography.”

A capstone course is personalized to each student who completes projects and missions. “There’s a physics student who’s researching light pollution on campus,” Andrew says. “Our capstone students have been flying missions around campus at various moon stages. Over the next few years, we’ll be expanding into agriculture spraying too.”

Currently, SEMO has a dozen students majoring in UAS, with more pursing it as a minor. Graduates have gone on to work for Boeing, inspect wind farms and even work for companies specializing in counter-drone technology.

“The diversity of what we can do after we graduate is incredible,” says Audrie Clark, a UAS major from Poplar Bluff. “Drones are in the baby stage and I think we’re going to see a huge growth in technology in the next five years. It’s exciting knowing there’s going to be new opportunities that come up.”

The most popular majors that minor in UAS are agriculture, construction management, professional pilot, law enforcement and communications, according to Andrew. 

Austin Gross is a junior from Troy majoring in plant and soil science and minoring in UAS. He says he picked the minor to educate himself on drone spraying and land surveying. “I was completely new to drones in general,” he says after inspecting the area for deer. “Doing this program and flying in class has given me the confidence to know I can do this whenever I’m out of school.”

As drone and camera technology rapidly evolve, Andrew envisions them being used in more industries. First responders might put up a drone as soon as they arrive on a scene to survey the area, use thermal imaging to look for hot spots of a fire, search for possible criminals or to help with accident reconstruction. Quarry operators use drones to quickly measure piles of rocks. Electric cooperative employees use drones to help them inspect power lines.

“Package and food delivery are already happening in some places, but that will be big the next five years,” Andrew says. “I can envision someone in Marble Hill needing an auto part from a store in Cape Girardeau. They can order it and it gets loaded onto a drone and delivered to Marble Hill in 15 minutes.” By comparison, it would take 45 minutes one way to drive this distance.

Andrew says when people think about real-world applications of drones, they become increasingly interested in hearing about the UAS program. “Some people don’t realize there are professions specifically for drone pilots trained in all these things,” he says. “A lot of people just think of drones as toys, but there is so much more they can do.”

For more information on SEMO’s UAS program visit www.semo.edu.

Originally Appeared Here

Spencers’ Sweet Call continues 100-year candy legacy in Webb City

by Sara Schafer  |  sschafer@ruralmissouri.coop

With the precision of a chemist and the patience of a preacher, Charles Spencer approaches the rotating machine filled with shimmering liquid gold. He carefully ladles out just the right amount of chocolate — heated precisely to 86.8 degrees. He pours the chocolate into a charming bunny mold, which is held tightly together by three binder clips.

Once the chocolate fills a little under half of the mold, Charles slowly rotates the mold to inspect every angle. “You tap the molds so that the chocolate gets into the features,” he says. “You can see like there’s a little bubble there on her nose, so you have to keep tapping up until the bubble goes out. You usually want them heavier at the bottom, so the bunnies can stand up.”

After Charles is happy with the thickness and consistency, he adds one more clip to the bottom of the mold and stands it up on his worktable to let it cool and set. One bunny done, and several hundred more to go. These bunnies will delight children and adults alike this Easter — offering a sweet taste of nostalgia and fun.

Charles and his wife, Malinda, own Spencer’s Sweet Call at the Minerva in Webb City. They are just the third family to run a business at this location, which originally opened in 1917. The couple opened their store in 2017, after the shop had been closed for several years. “I’m one of the people who got themselves in trouble on the internet,” Charles says. “I was just looking for used candy equipment online to use as a hobby. Instead, I found a whole candy store.” 

Charles has always enjoyed making sweet treats. His other job is serving as Presbyterian minister, so he and Malinda would commonly make and take cakes, pies and breads to church functions. Charles was wrapping up his time with a church in Lee’s Summit when he found the candy equipment and store for sale in Webb City.

While Malinda was surprised by the idea, she was open to it. “It seemed right, which helped,” she says. “It was a lot of change, but you have to be open to change.”

The couple moved south and started restoring the store, which was famous for its dozens of varieties of homemade candy, including chocolate hearts for Valentine’s Day and candy canes at Christmas. They scrubbed the blue-and-white tile floors, touched up the tin ceiling and worked to bring the antique candy equipment back to life. 

Today, the shop’s cases are filled with caramels, fun chocolates shaped for various holidays, old-fashioned ribbon candy, pies and cakes. They also have modern-day bulk candy, 80 varieties of soda in glass bottles and other seasonal goodies.

For Easter, the star of the candy case is giant eggs. “The eggs are a big local tradition,” Charles says. “People were asking us, ‘When are you going to do the eggs?’ I asked, ‘What are the eggs?’ They said, ‘Oh, you know, the chocolate eggs with candy inside.’ We had to talk to a lot of people to actually get to the bottom of what they were.”

The memorable treats include a hollow chocolate egg that’s made in an ornate mold. Customers then choose a third of a pound of candy to fill the egg. Charles fills the eggs with treats such as jellybeans or chocolate-covered caramels, then he seals the two egg halves with royal icing. 

“You have to make the shell thick enough that it has structural integrity, but thin enough it is like the consistency of a chocolate bar,” he says.

Eggs come with two tickets — one with the price ($16 or $18 depending on the candy) and one to say what candy is inside. That way grandmothers with large orders know exactly who gets what egg. “You’re always worried you’ll switch them up,” Charles says.

Charles and Malinda admit owning a candy shop came with a steep learning curve. “I have a chemistry degree, and this is the closest I’ve come to using that degree,” Charles says. 

The two enjoy seeing customers — whether they are locals or tourists visiting Route 66, which runs a block from the store. They are honored to carry on a 100-year-plus tradition and play a special part in their customers’ Easter baskets.

Spencer’s Sweet Call at the Minerva is open Wednesdays and Thursdays, 1 to 5 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is located at 12 S. Main St. in Webb City. Learn more at sweetcall.net. 

Originally Appeared Here

MO PAC Lumber strives to be the gold standard for black walnut hardwood

by Jim McCarty  |  jmccarty@ruralmissouri.coop

It starts with a squirrel burying nuts in the forest. Some of these are dug up for food in the wintertime. But others are forgotten and grow into tall walnut trees. The landowner decides to thin the mature trees so sunlight can reach the new ones sprouting below. The tree is cut by a local logger, sold to Missouri-Pacific Lumber Co. and hauled to the state-of-the-art sawmill in Fayette.

Then begins a process of sorting, debarking, sawing, steaming, drying, grading and straight-line ripping that might end more than two years later. The result will be crafted into beautiful boards highly prized for the rich beauty and luxurious patina by woodworkers the world over.

MO PAC Lumber, the name it does business under, got its start accidentally. Its founder, Louis Pescaglia, shoveled coal for home heating in the 1930s. One day a truck ran a stop sign and slammed into his coal truck. The driver didn’t have insurance, so he offered to pay for the damage with his load: timbers destined for the Illinois coal mines.

Louis decided it was easier supplying lumber than shoveling coal. He bought a small sawmill in 1935 and began cutting timbers. In 1960 his son, Jim, joined him in starting Pekin Hardwood Lumber Co., which specialized in lumber for industrial purposes. This changed when Jim convinced his dad to let him saw some furniture-grade hardwood. He hauled the boards to Chicago and returned with a new direction for the business.

“That completely changed the trajectory of the business,” says Jim’s son, Bucky, now president of the company. “We were trying to expand in Illinois. We cut every species of wood in the forest because there’s not that much forest in Illinois. It was my dad’s idea to focus on just one species, walnut. Hardly anyone was cutting it at the time in large volumes.”

Jim’s younger brother, Jerry, joined in 1970. As the business grew, it became apparent the supply of hardwoods in central Illinois wouldn’t keep up with the demand. 

When Bucky left home to learn the trade, the family business moved to New Franklin, Missouri. With the move came a new name — Missouri-Pacific Lumber Co. — and a new focus on black walnut production.

Missouri ranks first in the nation for black walnut trees, and the move put the mill close to the supply. “Missouri has more walnut trees than the next two states combined,” says Bucky. “It’s definitely the walnut mecca of the world.”

The Howard County location also provided easy access for shipping to the West Coast, hence the Pacific in its name. The move to Missouri proved to be a good one — until it wasn’t. The company thrived until the Missouri River almost destroyed it.

Its location 2 miles from the Missouri River should have been enough distance to keep its lumber high and dry in the worst of floods. “We’d had floods in the first several years we were there,” Bucky recalls. “Just a little backwater from the creeks behind us.”

But the Great Flood of 1993 caught the business by surprise and drowned it under 14 feet of water. Virtually the entire stockpile of logs floated away, along with pallets of finished lumber. Employees took to johnboats and searched the river for the missing wood. 

“We took rope, and we took fence staples, and we’d go out and hammer the rope into the logs,” Bucky says. “We’d make a train of those logs and try to pull them to shore. The lumber was everywhere for miles and miles.”

With the business underwater for 30 days, employees stayed busy rescuing its products and cleaning the thick mud from what they found. They worked for 100 days straight to put the business back on its feet. 

Despite their efforts, a move back to Illinois seemed inevitable, taking 40 good jobs away from an area that desperately needed more employers. That’s when Howard Electric Co-op stepped in. Its manager at the time, Richard Fowler, and Operating Superintendent Don Frevert stopped by to see what it would take to keep the business in Howard County. They learned Jim Pescaglia was frustrated with a search for land out of the flood plain. 

Compounding the problem, another flood hit the business in 1995. There was no flood insurance to cover the losses from the floods. That prompted Howard Electric’s board to offer the business a $150,000 loan. They spearheaded an effort to find suitable ground for the move and found it at a former airfield just south of Fayette. 

Howard County received a grant from the Missouri Department of Economic Development to buy the land. A Community Development Block Grant was used to add water and sewer. The U.S. Small Business Administration chipped in a $1.5 million loan, and the deal was made.

“My dad sat in his pickup truck with a napkin and drew out what it would look like,” Bucky says of the new location, now served by Howard Electric. “This will never flood. And if it does, Noah will be coming by. We were in a good area. We had great employees, so we wanted to stay here.”

In 1996 the first board came off the high-tech bandsaw at the new location. Its capacity expanded by 25 percent, with plenty of room for future growth. Today more than a million board feet of lumber is ready for shipment at any given time. Walnut only grows in the United States. MO PAC Lumber ships 50% to 60% of its products overseas, including destinations as far away as China and Germany. It’s sold in bundles of 1,000 board feet.

“Walnut is known as the aristocrat of hardwoods,” Bucky says. “There is this level of respect in the marketplace that if you are using walnut you are using one of the finer hardwoods that’s available.”

The best walnut, he says, grows north of the Missouri River. While MO PAC Lumber does source logs from the Ozarks, the wood tends to have more defects so north Missouri trees are preferred.

Once the logs are delivered to the mill, they are sorted into piles based on the expected quality. The best logs are resold to veneer mills. Forked logs, which tend to produce highly figured wood, might go to gunstock makers. Everything else goes into one of 13 piles destined for boards. 

The bark is ground off and the log passes through a metal detector to prevent damage to the 14-inch-wide, 42-foot-long bandsaw blade. “We want to make sure there’s no wire, nails, rifle bullets,” Bucky says. “The weirdest thing I’ve ever found is an entire framing square. But we’ve seen all kinds of things. There’s this myth that if you hang a horseshoe on a walnut tree it’ll produce more walnuts.”

Armed with 43 years of experience, Missouri Pacific’s sawyer Scott Schrader runs the computerized bandsaw that scans the log and determines how best to cut it into pieces. He often uses his wisdom to override the computer’s directions using two joysticks with 14 buttons to manipulate the log.

Once cut, the boards are carried down the line where they are cut to uniform length, stacked on carts and moved to a building where the wood is steamed for 84 hours to give it a uniform color. 

Now saturated with water, it goes into huge stacks outside where it dries naturally for a period of time based on its thickness. This drying can take up to two years for thicker boards.

Then it’s moved into huge kilns, where air heated by burning sawdust and woodchips dries the lumber to 7% moisture. From there it will be sorted into different grades by highly experienced inspectors.

While business is booming for MO PAC Lumber, it faces many of the same issues that plague the rest of Missouri’s forest products industry. Competition from wood substitutes like vinyl flooring, concrete railroad ties and plastic pallets has led to a push from the Missouri Forest Products Association to encourage consumers to use real wood.

Despite the challenges, Bucky sees a bright future for MO PAC Lumber. “I’ve got all three of my boys working in this company,” he says. “If I wasn’t convinced there’s plenty of resources out there, that the trees are growing way faster than they’re being harvested, that our products are quality and sustainable, I wouldn’t be encouraging them to work in this company. We make a great product. The world has a desire for these products. We just have to educate them and inform them about the benefits of using real hardwoods.”

For more information on MO PAC Lumber, call 800-279-7997 or visit www.mopaclumber.com.

Originally Appeared Here

by Angie Jones-Wheeler | ajones@ruralmissouri.coop

Are you looking for a romantic and relaxing getaway for two that is close to home? Or a fun weekend away with the girls? Check out these bed-and-breakfast inns located across our great state for your next vacation.

Enjoy all the benefits a B&B has to offer including a comfortable experience with a homelike atmosphere, delicious homemade breakfast, access to local information from the inn’s hosts, a peaceful setting and the opportunity to support unique local businesses. A B&B often provides a more personalized and comforting stay compared to a larger hotel. Call or visit the websites and Facebook pages of each B&B for more information and to make reservations for your stay at a charming home away from home.

Missouri is home to hundreds of bed-and breakfast inns. To find more throughout the state visit www.stayintheheartland.com. Photos courtesy featured B&Bs. 

1 – VINEYARD MANSION AND CARRIAGE HOUSE

1125 Charles St., St. Joseph | 818-968-4706 | www.vineyardmansion.com

This Romanesque Revival-style mansion was built by the architectural firm of Eckel and Mann in 1890. The Vineyard Mansion was constructed for B.R. Vineyard, a prominent attorney in St. Joseph. Experience the elegance of the Gilded Age during your stay at this mansion.

2 – THE BRASHEAR HOUSE BED AND BREAKFAST

1318 E. Normal St., Kirksville | 660-349-8213 | www.brashearhouse.com

The Brashear House Bed and Breakfast is located in scenic Kirksville. This colonial home has been in business as a B&B since 1999. While there you can enjoy a visit to Brashear Park, which is located just across the street from the B&B. 

3 – GELBACH MANOR

300 S. Holden St., Warrensburg | 660-624-2348 | www.gelbachmanor.com

The Gelbach Manor was built for the daughter of a banker in the early 1900s in Warrensburg. The town was young at this time and families were still settling in this quiet and cozy Midwestern area. The house was built of local sandstone and stucco.

4 – LOGANBERRY INN BED AND BREAKFAST

310 W. 7th St., Fulton | 573-642-9229 | www.loganberryinn.com

The Loganberry Inn was built as a private dwelling in Fulton in 1899. This beautiful Victorian-style house features a long porch that is ideal for visiting and enjoying the flowerbeds. Fulton’s historic downtown with restaurants and shopping destinations is located within walking distance of the inn.

5 – BRICK INN BED AND BREAKFAST

513 W. 3rd St., Washington | 314-440-7140 | www.brickinnbedandbreakfast.com

The Brick Inn Bed and Breakfast is located in historical downtown Washington. The inn is within walking distance of downtown shops and restaurants. Other local attractions to enjoy include the Missouri River, Katy Trail and various art galleries.

6 – The Hawkins House 

210 Main St., Eminence | 573-772-0095 | www.hawkinshousebb.com

The Hawkins House was built in 1913 by Andy and Ella Hawkins in Eminence. The town features a main street with various restaurants and shops. Other local places of interest to visit include Alley Mill, the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, one-room schools, Klepzig Mill, Rocky Falls and Blue Spring.  

7 – MACFIE HOUSE

​312 Bellevue St., Cape Girardeau | 573-419-4936 | www.facebook.com/macfiehouse

The historical MacFie House is a wonderful spot for your next getaway. It provides the perfect location for celebrating a special occasion, exploring the local area or when you’re in need of rest and relaxation. This beautiful home will ensure your comfort and privacy.

Originally Appeared Here

Housemade catfish and more in Buffalo.

by Paul Newton  |  pnewton@ruralmissouri.coop

The kitchen is a busy place. John Phillips has hand-breaded tenderloins and chicken strips that have to be dropped in the deep-fryer so they’re served hot and fresh. He tends to the steaks and burgers ensuring each is cooked to the customer’s liking. However, it’s the farm-raised fish from Mississippi that are the star of the show at his restaurant. Catfish is king in Buffalo.

John and his wife, Lisa, opened The Catfish Cafe in 2019 and serve more than 300 pounds of the popular fish weekly. Customers also flock to their restaurant — located in a former fast-food joint adjacent to a gas station — for their catfish, housemade sauces, burgers and steaks along Highway 65.

John is a Buffalo native who’s worked in restaurants since he was 16, including a stint at a Chili’s in Alaska. About 20 years ago, he started working for his boss-turned-mentor Gary Dyer at Dowd’s Catfish & BBQ in Lebanon. He stayed for 15 years, eventually earning the title of general manager.

“He taught me everything I know,” says John, a member of Southwest Electric Cooperative. “I was just a dumb kid when I started there. I learned so much about catfish and how to run a restaurant and treat people.”

John felt the pull of his hometown and wanted to bring his extensive knowledge of catfish to Buffalo. “I love the people here,” John says. “Everyone is decent and kind and you can’t beat that.”

John’s catfish won the Best of Rural Missouri contest in 2024 and is the main draw of the expansive menu at The Catfish Cafe. This starts with 5- to 7-ounce fresh catfish fillets he gets shipped in from a Mississippi farm. The fillets are split in two, lightly breaded with white cornmeal and seasoned with John’s proprietary spice blend. The Catfish Cafe has a 375-degree deep-fryer dedicated solely to catfish. “It’s kind of crispy and flaky with an airy taste,” he says.

The most popular catfish options are the three-, five- or seven-piece dinners. The freshly fried fish is paired with french fries and John’s housemade coleslaw. For $1 more, you can get your catfish served spicy — how John prefers his — after chilling in a marinade for 24 hours. If you don’t think seven pieces will be enough, opt for the all-you-can-eat dinner served with hush puppies, fries, coleslaw and tomato relish.

The Catfish Cafe serves their fish between two slices of bread as well. Both the catfish sandwich and po’boy start with a full 5- to 7-ounce fillet that’s cooked to order and served with classic toppings and housemade tartar sauce.

In addition to their tarter sauce and coleslaw, The Catfish Cafe serves housemade honey mustard, ranch, pineapple sauce and more. 

“It just tastes better to make it ourselves and has a higher quality our customers notice,” says John. “We have customers pull through our drive-thru and order just ranch dressing to take home.”

If you can’t quite decide what you’re craving, the combo platter dinner is for you. It features a pair each of catfish fillets, hand-breaded chicken strips and fried shrimp and comes with your choice of two of The Catfish Cafe’s 14 sides — including favorites such as green tomato relish, hush puppies, coleslaw and hand-breaded potato wedges.

Beyond the catfish, customers love John’s pork tenderloin, which is pounded out by hand, dipped in buttermilk, breaded with Western seasoning, marinated for 24 hours and then breaded again before it is cooked. Other options include the Buffalo chicken, BLT and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.

Beef lovers fret not. John cooks up 17 different burgers and steaks on his grill. The burger menu features iconic one-third-pound options such as a classic cheeseburger, Frisco Burger and patty melt. Other intriguing options include the Jalapeno Jack Burger with peppers, pepper jack cheese and chipotle mayonnaise or the Fried Pickle and Ranch Burger with Swiss and American cheeses, ranch dressing and fried pickles — one of the restaurant’s most popular appetizers.

However, if you just want meat and cheese — and a lot of it — The Works is for you. “That’s definitely a crowd favorite around here,” says John. The behemoth burger features a pair of one-third-pound patties cooked to your liking and piled high with slices of American, Swiss, pepper jack and cheddar cheeses.

“For a catfish house, we sell a lot of steaks too,” John says. “Our most popular are our 12-ounce rib-eye and 8-ounce sirloin. We cook it with our own seasonings and serve it with garlic toast and two sides.”

Like any rural restaurant owner, John faces the pressure from constant rises in food prices and fees from vendors while trying to keep his prices fair. “We work very hard to get the best and freshest ingredients we can while still being affordable,” he says. “About 70% of our menu is under $10.”

They also run special meal deals for two on Tuesdays and kids eat free on Wednesdays.

It’s a family affair for John as he gets to work with his brother, Josh, and daughter, Hannah, at The Catfish Cafe. “His life’s passion is serving everyone here and I think he’ll work here until he can no longer walk,” Josh says of his brother’s work ethic. 

“There’s nothing I’d rather do than this,” John says. “It’s something different every day I’m here, good or bad. It’s exciting for me.”

The Catfish Cafe

Specialties: Dinners including farm-raised catfish, hand-breaded chicken tenders and fried shrimp. Sandwiches including pork tenderloin, Buffalo chicken and catfish. Burgers including the mushroom swiss, Frisco and The Works. Steaks including the 12-ounce rib-eye and 8-ounce sirloin.

Price: Appetizers from $4.99 to $7.99. Burgers and sandwiches from $7.99 to $11.99. Dinners and steaks from $9.99 to $23.99.

Details: Open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday. Deliveries via DoorDash. Cash, checks, credit cards and Apple Pay accepted. Nonsmoking. Located at 1210 S. Ash St. in Buffalo. Contact at 417-345-1277 and on Facebook.

Originally Appeared Here

Fordland couple crafts leather books built to endure the years – and little hands. 

by Sara Schafer  |  sschafer@ruralmissouri.coop

Shredded. That’s how Jacob Underwood found his 18-month-old daughter’s books when he went to wake her from her nap. She was already awake and had quietly destroyed another one of her board books.

As the father of four daughters, Jacob knew traditional books would never win the war against emerging toddler teeth and constantly busy hands. So, he and his wife, Markie, put their heads together. “I thought there has to be a better material to make books out of and a better way to do it,” Jacob says.

In the year following that insightful afternoon, Jacob and Markie brainstormed several types of book materials. They wanted the books to be safe for children to chew on, easy to clean when doused with milk and strong enough to pass down to siblings and even future generations. 

The couple, members of Webster Electric Cooperative who live near Fordland, settled on leather as the best option. Instead of simply making leather covers, they would make the entire book out of the sturdy natural material. They visited nearby Springfield Leather Co. to test several types. They explored printing processes, ink types and binding methods.

Once they had a rough plan, the couple needed the words and pictures. Luckily, they didn’t have to look far. “We both come from large families,” Markie says. “He’s one of seven, and I’m one of eight. Within our families, we have a lot of talent.”

They enlisted two of Markie’s sisters, Emma and Rose Discher, for the illustrations. One of the first books was “ABC with Nature,” which pairs Rose’s original animal paintings with each letter of the alphabet. Similarly, she created watercolor-style illustrations to depict a popular psalm in “Psalm 148.”

The sisters also brought to life a story that had been passed down through generations of their family — “Pollywog Frog.” 

“My grandmother and mom heard this story at a teacher’s conference about 40 years ago,” Markie says. “I grew up hearing the story but it had never been put down in a storybook. My grandmother died before she could see it printed, but now we can continue to pass the story down. I love how my sister’s imagination brought Pollywood Frog to life.”

The now third-generation family tale focuses on Pollywog Frog, who is a good little frog — most of the time. He takes a captivating adventure through Bayberry Bog and encounters memorable characters along his journey. Jacob and Markie’s daughters adore the book.

In April 2023, the couple officially launched their business, Forever Leather. They offer a variety of books, toys, earrings and more. All products are nontoxic and durable, so they should last for years, if not decades. The couple sells their products online and at a variety of festivals. Books cost $55, earrings cost $12.50 and games, such as checkers, matching games and board games range from $35 to $65.

“When people actually pick up one of our books, they realize the difference,” Jacob says. “A lot of people are just blown away by them because they haven’t seen anything like them before. The price does scare a lot of people at first. But if somebody has a specific event they’re buying for, oftentimes they’ll go ahead and pick one up. As far as we know, there’s not a comparable product out there.”

Jacob and Markie lean toward a minimalistic life. They want their children to have quality toys — not excessive toys. That’s why they focus on making products that last.

“A few months ago, I did a price comparison on a book my daughter was given for her first birthday,” Markie says. “That was the same year we printed our first prototype. The board book she was given didn’t even last a year. The one we made is still going strong. So even if our book only lasts five years, it will be the same price as that book that lasted one year. We estimate our books lasting 30 years, but that’s a low estimate.” 

Jacob and Markie hope their business brings happiness to many children. They say each story is written with the hope of instilling important values and bringing joy. Plus, each book is made by parents who read the same stories to their little girls. 

To learn more about Forever Leather or buy their products, visit shopforeverleather.com. It is one of 600 companies in the Buy Missouri initiative overseen by Lt. Gov. David Wasinger. To find more Missouri-made products, visit www.BuyMissouri.net.

Originally Appeared Here

Buffalo Chicken Dip

• 2 cups cooked shredded chicken
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened 
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, plus additional for topping, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 heavy pinch dried dill
• 1/2 cup hot sauce
• 2 scallions, chopped
• Blue cheese crumbles
• Chips or vegetable sticks

Heat oven to 400 degrees. 

In bowl, mix shredded chicken, cream cheese, sour cream, 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, onion powder, garlic powder and dried dill until combined. Add hot sauce; mix until combined.

Transfer mixture from bowl to oven-safe dish. Top with additional shredded cheese, to taste.

Bake until cheese is melted, approximately 15 minutes.Top with blue cheese crumbles and chopped scallions. Serve warm with chips and vegetable sticks. 

courtesy Culinary.net

Fiesta Snack Stacks

• 1 pound chicken, chopped
• 1/2 cup salsa, divided
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• Eight 8-inch tortillas
• 1/3 cup refried beans
• 1/2 cup guacamole
• 6 ounces shredded cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In skillet, cook chopped chicken until done.

In medium bowl, mix cooked chicken, 1/4 cup salsa and sour cream until blended.

In small bowl, mix refried beans and remaining salsa until blended.

Lay two tortillas on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread chicken mixture over both tortillas. Place second set of tortillas over chicken mixture. Spread guacamole over top tortillas. Place third set of tortillas on top and spread refried bean mixture over tortillas. Place fourth set of tortillas on top and sprinkle shredded cheese over tortillas.

Bake 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

courtesy Culinary.net

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

• 2 packages thick-sliced hardwood smoked bacon, slices cut in half
• 22-ounce package white cheddar mashed potatoes
• 15-ounce container package garlic herb cheese spread
• 20 jalapeno peppers, halved, seeded with membranes removed
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Set bacon out to thaw to room temperature so it is pliable.

In mixing bowl, use rubber spatula to combine mashed potatoes and garlic herb cheese. Stir until incorporated. Spread 1 teaspoon mashed potato mixture in each jalapeno half; level each with butter knife or spatula.

Wrap each jalapeno with bacon; use three half slices for large jalapenos or two halves for smaller sizes. Be sure bacon is wrapped to seal in mashed potato mixture.

In small mixing bowl, combine brown sugar and cayenne pepper. Generously sprinkle over bacon and pat gently to make it stick.

Line cookie sheet with piece of parchment paper so sugar does not burn to pan. Bake until bacon reaches desired crispiness, around 25 to 35 minutes.

Let peppers cool slightly before serving, about 5 minutes.

courtesy Bob Evans

Easy Tiramisu Dip

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon espresso powder
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 8 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
• Wafers or fruit, for dipping

In medium bowl, whisk heavy whipping cream and espresso powder until blended.

In large bowl, use hand mixer to beat cream cheese until smooth. Add mascarpone cheese and beat until combined. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating after each addition. Add vanilla extract; beat mixture. Add espresso mixture; beat until soft peaks form.

Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Spoon mixture into serving bowl. Sprinkle with cocoa powder. Serve with wafers or fruit. 

courtesy Culinary.net

Easy Crab Rangoon

• 12 wonton wrappers
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 ounces lump crabmeat
• 1 scallion, sliced thin, green and white parts separated
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

Heat oven to 350 degrees. 

Spray muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Press wonton wrappers into muffin cups. Lightly spray wrappers with nonstick cooking spray and bake until lightly browned, 6 to 9 minutes. Let cool slightly.

In medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Combine with crabmeat, scallion whites, ginger and soy sauce. Fill each wonton wrapper with filling. Bake until filling is heated through, 6 to 8 minutes. 

Sprinkle with scallion greens. Serve warm. 

courtesy Culinary.net

Spiced Apple Crumble

Filling:

• 6 medium Honeycrisp apples, peeled and cubed
• 1 tablespoon white flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 lemons, juice only

Topping:

• 1 cup quick oats
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Vanilla ice cream, optional

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

To make filling: In medium bowl, add apples, flour, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and lemon juice. Toss to evenly coat. Spread evenly in 8-by-8-inch baking dish.

To make topping: In medium bowl, add oats, flour, brown sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, melted butter and salt. Fork mixture to create crumbles. Pour crumble topping over apple mixture.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

courtesy Culinary.net

Hummingbird Cake

• 1 spice cake mix
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup banana cream Greek yogurt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup crushed pineapple
• 1 cup crushed pecans
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Frosting:

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1 package pecans, optional

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In mixing bowl, mix cake mix and sugar. Blend in yogurt, eggs and pineapple. In separate bowl, mix pecans, flour and butter, then add to cake mixture.

Grease two 8-inch cake pans with butter. Pour half the mixture into each pan then bake 45 minutes. Cool on rack before icing.

To make frosting: In mixing bowl, mix butter, cream cheese and heavy whipping cream. Slowly blend in powdered sugar. 

Ice cake then decorate with pecans, if desired.

courtesy Cookin’ Savvy

Originally Appeared Here

Jess Ryan creates community for rural gals across Missouri. 

by Ricki Spargo  |  rspargo@ruralmissouri.coop

Jess Ryan never thought she’d live in rural Missouri. She happily waved goodbye to her small town of 200 when she left for college. Ten years later, she found herself packing up and moving back to Silex after meeting her husband, Danny. “I was totally that girl who said she was never coming back. I was gone for a long time,” she says. “It was a huge coincidence that my husband farmed in Silex, despite not growing up here.”

Even though Jess was gone for several years, the Cuivre River Electric Cooperative member stayed connected to her small town while living in St. Louis, through a blog called Roots Out West. “The name originated because my roots were west of St. Louis,” she says. “I tried to encourage the people I knew to travel outside of the city, but they always thought it was too far. Roots Out West started because I wanted to share places that I thought people needed to see. There are so many hidden gems out here that I just knew people would love.” 

After moving back to Silex and welcoming three daughters, Jess found herself struggling with the disconnection that can come with living in a small town compared to the hustle and bustle of St. Louis. Her social media was full of creators sharing their exciting lives in the city, but she found it hard to connect with their Target hauls or unrealistic date nights. 

“As a stay-at-home mom, I didn’t have coworkers anymore,” she says. “I missed those connections. One day I posted a video about a trip to Dollar General and the awesome stuff I found there. I called it ‘the rural gal’s Target.’ It really resonated with a lot of women in rural areas.” 

After that, Jess began posting the parts of her life that were a far cry from her life in the city: making field meals for her husband during harvest or the new seeds she was testing in the garden. Her rural gal community began growing with small town women looking to connect over their common denominator — rural Missouri. Today, she has more than 50,000 followers across Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. 

In addition to her online platforms, Jess operates a roadside flower stand and boutique that promotes shopping rural. “About four years ago I started growing a garden and daydreaming about owning a roadside stand,” she says. “One day, I just decided to go for it. I reached out to the stand’s owner, and she agreed to let me turn this old firework stand into a flower stand.” 

Now, the stand — which sits in the parking lot of a salon — holds a variety of seasonal and locally handcrafted items in addition to fresh flowers from her garden. They operate on the honor system, accepting cash or Venmo. The stand, which is appropriately decorated with Dollar General finds, welcomes visitors from across the state.   

“A lot of people have reached out saying they’d like to visit, but it’s out of the way for them,” Jess says. “Well, when you live in a rural area, nothing is exactly easy to get to. I’ve made it a priority to share day trip itineraries based on the direction you’re coming to encourage people to visit rural areas. The videos show different parks, coffee trucks, restaurants, other roadside stands, pretty much anything you’d want to do in a day.” 

As the Roots Out West brand continues to grow and evolve, Jess has committed to prioritizing the things in her life which she finds the most important. “I’m really mindful of protecting my capacity in this current season of life,” she says. “We have the cattle and the sheep and the flowers and the kids, which is a lot of things to keep alive. I want to give my best to each aspect of my life and romanticize it as much as I possibly can.”

Interested in joining the Rural Gal community? Find Jess on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok @rootsoutwest or contact via email at 

rootsoutwest@gmail.com. 

Originally Appeared Here

Rural baker creates beautiful macarons. 

by Paul Newton  |  pnewton@ruralmissouri.coop

The small French pastries had consumed Juli Ward’s home kitchen. Juli and her pastry partner — Kylianne Wilmering — were busy for weeks prepping these precise cookies — 2,000 of them — for the Lake of the Ozarks Food Truck Festival in September. Juli carefully handled the macaronage — folding the dry ingredients into the wet while making macarons — ensuring they passed the figure eight test for the proper consistency. Kylianne matched sets of baked macarons and piped in delicious fillings — one by one until they reached 2,000.

“That was by far our largest offering since we started,” says Juli. “We had about 250 hours put into it by the time we had done it all.”

Juli has made macarons for more than four years through her business, Aunt JuJu Macarons. The home baker makes most of her sweets from inside her rural Laurie kitchen ranging from special orders of a few dozen for retirement and birthday parties to weddings and larger gatherings — like the food truck festival — a few times per year.

Cooking runs in Juli’s family. She remembers her grandma, JoAnn Moulton, being an outstanding cook and her aunts and uncles owned restaurants around the Lake of the Ozarks. She got the urge to try macarons in 2020 while watching cooking shows.

“These were professional bakers and they would make a macaron, sometimes they came out and sometimes they didn’t,” she says. “I was making banana bread and cookies like everyone else back then. I was interested in seeing how hard it was to make macarons.”

She learned very quickly. Juli found a recipe and attempted her first batch. “They looked like moon pies and the tops had ‘volcanoed’ out,” the Co-Mo Electric Cooperative member says. “They didn’t look appetizing, but they were edible.”

Juli sought out all she could about the finicky cookie using online resources, and today specializes in French macarons — not to be confused with coconut macaroon drop cookies. Every cookie she makes is either gluten-free or comes with a gluten-free option. “The easiest way to describe it is a French sandwich cookie,” she says.

Juli used her newfound macaron knowledge in 2020 to try another batch in a few different flavors. She liked the results and sent them to Lake Christian Academy for Teacher Appreciation Week and made more for her daughter’s birthday. They went over well, so she decided she would sell them at the Laurie Hillbilly Fair to see if this was something she could do in the future. “I sold out by noon on the first day and took orders for 300 more,” she says.

As she’s preparing a batch, she talks through the intricate steps such as wiping down cooking hardware with lemon juice, sifting the almond flour and powdered sugar three times and the perfect amount of time to let them rest before baking.

“The bottoms have this little distinctive edge called the feet that’s caused by the air coming out the bottom of the shell while it is baking,” she says. “If you don’t let them rest long enough, you won’t get the feet and it will ‘volcano’ out the top. But too long and you have other problems.”

It takes plenty of patience to make macarons, which Juli attributes to her 10-year career teaching third grade.

“The chance of making a perfect macaron is very small, but a successful macaron with great flavor is more achievable than one might think,” she says. “So our goal is to have a beautiful cookie that tastes like an explosion of flavors in your mouth. Something you’ll remember.”

Since selling at her first Hillbilly Fair, Juli hasn’t stopped fulfilling orders big and small. Despite the finicky nature of the cookies, she takes pride in making them look beautiful. That’s where her lead decorator, Kylianne, comes in. “I call her the ganache queen because she has perfected that and she’s an artist at heart,” Juli says, noting Winnie the Pooh-themed macarons Kylianne decorated by hand.

“I think they’re fun to make with Juli and I love putting stuff together and making it pretty,” Kylianne says. “So that’s why the filling and decorating are mostly my part.”

In addition to festivals, Aunt JuJu Macarons takes custom orders of at least two dozen per flavor to be picked up in the Lake of the Ozarks area.

This Valentine’s Day, Juli and Kylianne will be making chocolate-covered strawberry macarons. A pair of heart-shaped macaron shells are filled with strawberry buttercream and homemade jam, topped with sprinkles to resemble strawberry seeds, dipped in semisweet chocolate and drizzled with vanilla-almond bark. They’ll be available in quantities of six for local pickup.

“I enjoy the challenge of making macarons and figuring out new flavor combinations,” Juli says. “But seeing the finished product and the customers’ excitement is my favorite part.”

For more information about Aunt JuJu Macarons and their offerings, email aunt.juju.macarons@gmail.com or find them on Facebook.

Originally Appeared Here