People

Can you keep a secret? Here’s the deal — I found this great place in Ingram where you can get hand-crafted old-fashioned cakes and cookies. Now you see, I’m not really supposed to eat sweets, but . . . well . . . you know how a schnauzer reacts when he sniffs a sirloin.

The act of skilled, visual creativity is an astounding thing. The proficiency to physically and emotionally capture, in two- and/or three-dimension, likenesses that evoke an other-worldly reality has always been an appreciated and revered aspect within the greater realm of the recognized arts. It’s inspiring when encountered as are those few gifted with the abilities to actually execute.

I did not expect what I saw at JP Mazanec’s RustiCustom Wimberley workshop. He’s an expert woodworker. Name the wood, name the project, and he’ll do it whether it’s functional or art or perhaps both. His workshop is expansive — more than 2,000 square feet with every tool you can imagine accompanied by paints and stains and pieces of wood. The workshop is surrounded outside by wood, some exposed to the elements and some in sheds.

Located in the heart of sheep and goat country where live oaks dot the hills and clear streams flow, a vibrant South Texas artisan is creating colorful clothing and single-handily promoting an industry whose heyday peaked years ago. Dolores Vernor greets me at the door of her shop on Camp Wood’s main street.

Ashe junipers, or the ubiquitous “cedar” trees covering the terrain, generally elicit scorn from Hill Country landowners. Most consider the bushy evergreens to be a nuisance, robbing the soil of moisture, causing miserable allergic reactions during pollination and serving no greater purpose than raw material for gnarly fence posts. But the Klaassen family views cedars as natural works of art that can be transformed into sturdy, attractive bed frames and other pieces of rustic furniture.

For those of us fortunate enough to actually live in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, displaying examples of its abundant (and, at times, rare) natural beauty on our properties is a given. For the rest of us outlanders though, adding a little of this special region’s colorful and hearty flora to our yards and gardens can be a trying exercise.

From club lambs and grain fields, the Jason and Kelli Jacoby farm and ranch operation has expanded with four grown sons and families who’ve extended their reach from McCulloch County into the capital city of Austin. Along the way, they’ve added cow/calves, a feed and seed store, café, mill, rail yard and land services.

On a warm, windy day in October, I arrived at the home of Jerome and RoShell Heiner in the small community of Blumenthal, Texas, located between Stonewall and Fredericksburg. My mission: to learn about propagating and growing sweet potatoes in the Hill Country. Jerome and RoShell, along with their sons, and later, daughters-in-law and grandkids, have been growing and selling sweet potatoes throughout the area for more than 40 years. When their youngest son Randy was born, the now-family ...

Kayte and Justin Graham take a decidedly green approach when it comes to pork production at their Zanzenberg Farm in Center Point. Instead of keeping their hogs in close quarters, they allow them to roam freely in grazing pastures to take advantage of Mother Nature’s bounty. The Grahams say the animals benefit from vitamin D supplied by the sun along with minerals from the soil and nutrition from a variety of plants that combine to create a natural “salad.” Ironically, pigweed ranks h ...

Armfuls of orange marigolds, yellow clasping coneflowers, pink yarrow and pastel delphiniums fill plastic buckets in the open-air packing shed at Arnosky Family Farms, located on FM 2325 east of Blanco. On towel-covered tables, Pamela Arnosky and an assistant work on an overcast June afternoon, hand bunching long stems together to create colorful Texas Garden Bouquets.