We are blessed with the sweetest naturally-sparkling water on this beautiful blue planet - one reason that our beef tastes so divine. Only one of the streams that flows across our farm originates off the farm; it springs from the base of Crystal Mountain just southeast of us. This little no-name creek flows north into Osage Creek, which flows into Kings River, which joins Table Rock Lake, formed by the White River just over the state line in SW Missouri's lakes region.

Thirty miles further south, here on our woman-owned farm, we have a dozen or more springs that bubble out of their limestone beds and trickle off north toward the Osage, or south to form part of Brushy Creek, which joins Dry Fork Creek, which arcs north to also join the Kings River and Table Rock Lake.

These ancient hills are rocky and wooded with small natural meadows, and lend themselves to the growing of pasture grasses and grazing animals thanks mostly to the backbreaking labor of the original settlers of this region: our pastures are bordered by windrows of rocks, pried loose and picked up by hand, and carried to the edge of the field on mule-drawn skids.

The Native Americans had better sense than to try to farm these hills, only visiting to hunt elk, whitetail deer, and turkey, or to fish for trout.