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From the Oklahoma to the Armadillo

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Gary P. Nunn
By Jan Sikes

Gary P. Nunn was born in Okmulgee, Okla., in 1945. No one can dispute the fact that Nunn has been instrumental in the evolving of Texas and Red Dirt music scenes as we know them today.

But, how did he get from the tiny town in Oklahoma to writing the theme song for Austin City Limits, “London Homesick Blues?”

The answers are in his hot-off-the-press memoir, “Home with the Armadillo.”

Where does the book begin?

“It starts the day I was born,” Nunn said. “My father was the superintendent of a small country school in Eram, Okla. Our old car was broke down, and the only vehicle he had at his disposal was a school bus. So, he drove my mom to the hospital in a school bus.”

In his book, Nunn takes us through his childhood where a lifetime of values formed. Academics took center stage with sports coming second. Nunn excelled at both.

He understood the value of teamwork early on, and that served him well in later years. But, the one thing that stood out to me about his childhood was the work ethic that seemed ingrained in his DNA. At the early age of eight, he was working on his uncles’ farms during the summer months driving a tractor, baling hay and laboring from sunup to sundown. Family bonds were strong.

Young Nunn had a knack for most anything he tackled. Around this time, his parents insisted on piano lessons. His piano teacher entered her students in a contest at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Okla., and Nunn received top honors for his level.

The family moved from Oklahoma to Brownfield, Texas, in 1957 where he entered Junior High School.

In his book, he recalls the talk at school one day about a classmate who’d gotten a new guitar. Even though he didn’t know the kid, Nunn made a point to go to his house after football practice to see the new instrument.

“I knocked on Alton’s door and introduced myself to his mom. I asked if I could see Alton. I walked into his bedroom, and he was playing this shiny new electric guitar. I was mesmerized and enchanted,” Nunn recalled.

As it turns out, the kid, Alton Nicholson, would be a part of the first band Nunn ever played in, “The Rebels,” and they won a talent show contest in eighth grade. Nunn played drums.

And, as they say, the rest is history.

I commend Nunn for the detailed way he followed a timeline through the book. He played in a band with Nicholson all the way through high school, then enrolled at Texas Tech University, where he became involved in another band that would lead him further down the path of a music career.

It’s been said before, that writing a song is an act of bravery as it reveals a deep part of the writer’s soul. I would like to add that so does writing a memoir like “Home with the Armadillo.” In this book, Nunn openly exposes his weaknesses, frustrations and struggles as well as notes his innovative ideas and accomplishments.

After transferring from Texas Tech to the University of Texas, the music horizon expanded. Nunn recalled the many different bands he played in and how it was always an emotional and heartbreaking experience when one ended.
It was shortly after one of these heartbreaking events that he packed up his truck, determined to go back to Oklahoma, raise cattle and farm the land, clear his head and figure out exactly what he wanted to do.

But, Michael Martin Murphey was playing in Austin the night before his departure date, and he went to see The Cosmic Cowboy’s show. It was an event that would change the direction of Nunn’s life yet again. Murphey asked if Nunn would like to play bass in his band. Needless to say, the trip to Oklahoma got postponed.

“That was in 1972, and I had literally given up on the music business. But, it was a whole new ball game with Murphey,” Nunn said. “He had a record deal, promoters and was traveling the United States and even the world.”
The launch of Nunn’s solo career came about quite by accident years later (as did many things in Nunn’s life including his marriage).

In 1986, Nunn relocated his wife and son to the family ranch near Hanna, Okla., and from 1986 to 2003, he commuted between Oklahoma and Texas. During this time, his wife, Ruth, decided to create a music festival on the A-O ranch. They called it “Terlingua North Summer Social and Chili Cook-off.” Volunteers built a stage and the first year, between 500 and 600 were in attendance. Nunn notes that several up-and-coming artists got their jumpstart through this festival and many give him credit personally for helping to boost their music careers.

Read the April issue to learn more!

Attractions

Inventions of Agriculture: The Cotton Gin

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A few centuries ago, the landscape of farming and ranching looked quite different than it does today. There were no tractors for plowing, airplanes for spraying or even barbed wire for separating cattle.

There are inventions that have come along and changed the face of agriculture across the United States. One of those inventions was the cotton gin. It was invented during a time when the agricultural industry was struggling after its most significant crop, tobacco, saw revenues begin to plummet. But while it saved the profits and livelihood of many farmers and plantation owners, it also led to the increase in slave labor, making it an invention that significantly changed both our economic and social past.

The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney. Whitney was born in Westborough, Mass., on Dec. 8, 1765. His father was a farmer, and his son would prove his talents as both an inventor and a mechanic at a young age.

Whitney graduated Yale University and even considered becoming a lawyer, but life took him down a different path, one that would change the lives of farmers forever. He made his way to the south after graduation with plans to tutor, but upon arrival, he accepted a position with Catherine Green in Savannah, Ga. Greene was the widow of American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene and owned the Mulberry Grove plantation.

At the time, tobacco was falling in value due to both soil exhaustion and abundance. Farmers began turning to other crop options, including cotton. Unfortunately, the only variety that could be grown inland contained seeds that were time-consuming to pick out.

During the colonial times, cloth derived from cotton was more expensive than wool or even linen due to the difficulty of removing these seeds from the fibers. It took an entire day just to detach seeds from one single pound of cotton. Whitney’s employer, Greene, urged the young Whitney to find a solution to this problem. Her support was crucial in Whitney’s success in inventing the cotton gin. Some even suggest that it was actually Greene who was the true inventor of the cotton gin, but at the time, women were not allowed to apply for patents in the United States.

On March 14, 1794, Whitney succeeded in obtaining a patent for the cotton gin. While similar devices had been around for many years, his was the first single device that could clean short-staple cotton. The introduction of the new technology made cotton a profitable crop in the United States for the very first time.

The device worked much like a strainer. The cotton was run through a drum, made of wood, which included hooks similar to teeth along the perimeter. Those hooks caught the cotton fiber and drug them through a mesh, which was too small to allow the seeds through. However, the hooks pulled the cotton through easily.

Small cotton gins could easily be worked by hand, while larger ones included the use of horses to power. Even the smaller gin could remove seeds from 50 pounds of cotton in one day, a much larger amount than the results of doing it by hand. In fact, the gin allowed 1,000 pounds of cotton to be cleaned in the same amount of time it took a worker to do five pounds by hand.

Due to Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin, along with other inventions of the Industrial Revolution such as machines to weave it, the price of cotton plunged and production of it doubled each decade after 1800. It even began being shipped overseas, and soon American farmers were growing 75 percent of the world’s supply of cotton.

However, Whitney’s invention was not all good news. While it did increase the production and profits of crops in America, it also established the cotton plantation culture of the south. The cotton crop became so lucrative for plantation owners, the demand to make more significantly increased. As it did, so did the use of slave labor for growing it.  

As for Whitney, he struggled with patent-law issues that prevented him from significantly profiting from his invention. He managed to overcome that obstacle when he secured a contract with the United State government in 1798 to create 10,000 muskets.

While it would take him a decade to make those instead of the two years originally planned in the contract, he began endorsing interchangeable parts. In other words, identical parts could be quickly assembled while making for easier repairs on machines. Many objects, from machines to guns, were constructed by individuals. While Whitney is most known for his invention of the cotton gin, he also is credited for the development of mass production within America.

In his personal life, Whitney did not wed until his 50s, when he married Henrietta Edwards in 1817. The pair would go on to have four children before his death on Jan. 8, 1825, at the age of 59.

Resources

History. (2010, February 4). Cotton Gin and Eli Whitney. A&E Television Networks. https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/cotton-gin-and-eli-whitney

National Archives and Records Administration. (2021, December 16). Eli Whitney’s Patent for the Cotton Gin. National Archives Educator Resources. https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/cotton-gin-patent#background (Text adapted from an article written by Joan Brodsky Schur, a teacher at Village Community School in New York, N.Y.)

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Let’s Take A Trip – Part 1

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After almost two years of Covid, testing, vaccinations, boosters, illness and death, wearing masks, staying indoors and away from others, severe thunderstorms, tornados, and now war in Europe, it’s time to get out and away from it all for at least a day.

    Let’s get on I35 North of Ardmore and begin our trip in the Arbuckle Mountains.  Stop at every scenic turnout to enjoy the awe-inspiring views of the trees, valleys, and rocks that according to archeologists formed during an earthquake eons ago.

     Reached by a narrow twisty highway, a sight comparable to a miniature Niagara Falls is soon revealed. Cascading 77 feet, Turner Falls is majestic. Formed by Honey Creek, it empties into a beautiful blue lake.

     Although it may be tempting, climbing to the area behind the falls and sliding down the falls is prohibited by law because more than one person has drowned attempting lt.

     Be sure to visit Collins Castle, built in the early 30`s of native materials as a summer home for Dr. Elizabeth Collins, a professor at Oklahoma University. It was once headquarters for the Bar C Ranch.

     The entire park covers 1,500 acres and includes swimming areas, camping areas, cabins, hiking trails, caves, a water slide, trout fishing, and Look Out Point, featuring telescopes allowing you to view the entire park.

      A zip line, diving, scubas, and floating on inner tubes entertains many visitors.

     Children play areas, a trading post and majestic scenery attract more than 250,000 visitors each year.

         Come for a day or a week and enjoy all the park has to offer.

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A Versatile Venue

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Fields that once were prolific with wheat have now found a new purpose at P Bar Farms in Hydro, Okla. Now, colorful sunflowers abound, attracting visitors from all across the state who come for photo opportunities. In another 10-acre section, specialty corn is grown specifically to be mowed to a specific pattern, transforming into a maze that sees upwards of 15,000[LM1] visitors annually.

It’s not that Loren and Kim Liebscher couldn’t make a traditional farm work; it’s more that they were looking for something fun to do for a few years.

P Bar Farms is named for Travis Payne, Kim’s father. “We used to farm traditionally here. We were farming and her dad got sick. I kind of lost my love to farm, so I began praying that God would give me something to put the fun back into farming,” Loren shared.

It was just two weeks later that God delivered a sign that would change the course for P Bar Farm. “I read in a Progressive Farmer magazine about a guy doing a corn maze in Nashville, Tenn. We found out that the first Annual Corn Maze Convention was only two or three weeks after that,” he said. “So, we drove to Salt Lake City for the first convention, and that’s how we got started.”

Loren and Kim admit they knew nothing about corn mazes, but they learned plenty during the convention. “The Convention was actually part of a franchise company that was looking to add farms. We joined, and for the fee they gave us all the secrets and designs for the maze and everything,” Loren explained.

After a few years, the Liebschers opted out of the franchise. “We felt like we knew what we were doing by then,” Kim said.

The first P Bar Farms corn maze was grown and cut in 2001, but then 9/11 happened. The uncertainty that plagued the country made its way to Hydro, and it wasn’t a given that the corn maze adventure would even get out of the gate. “We thought that was going to be the end. We had hoped that if we got 1,000 people to come during that first season, at $5 a person, we’d be doing well. A $5,000 addition to your income is pretty good for a farmer,” Loren said. “That first year we wound up having close to 5,000, even with 9/11. We had one customer explain it to us. She said, ‘I’ve never felt so safe having my kids so lost, but it’s a family farming operation, and nothing’s going to happen here on the farm. It has that good feeling where people feel safe and comfortable.”

Kim added, “We just wanted to have something fun that was light-hearted. We didn’t anticipate being busy – we were just having fun. We thought we could do it, but if not, we don’t have anything to lose.”

With the success of the first year, the Liebschers knew they would do the corn maze again. They built a barn and added a new concession stand. They also interviewed some tough critics; teachers that came out to the farm. “We had a retired schoolteacher that worked for us, and she said if you want to get the truth to interview teachers. So, we created a survey that all the teachers filled out, and everything that came back said it was wonderful, a great concept, and a great idea,” Loren said. “But, they added they weren’t coming back until we got indoor bathrooms. That was the number one request from the teachers, so we definitely made that change.”

As the interest in the corn maze grew, P Bar Farms continued to expand. First a petting zoo was added, and then a new barn. With more requests for parties, more buildings went up. The Liebschers wanted the property to resemble an old family farm, so they purchased an old home in Hinton, Okla., and moved it in. “We wanted to use it as a bed and breakfast. That never really worked out, but we rented it for a while. Now it’s regularly booked as an Airbnb. People like to get away and get out in the country,” Kim shared.

There have been very few noticeable failures in the past two decades. The only other memorable one was a venture with a greenhouse. “With the wind in Oklahoma, that didn’t work for us. We had put asphalt in the bottom of our greenhouse, so we used that and put in a new party barn,” Loren said.

Soon a pumpkin patch was added to compliment the maze and the rest of the farm. “We’ve always had a pumpkin patch. The problem is pumpkins can be really hard to grow if you don’t rotate them, so we don’t do that real well. Our first year we had more than we could sell, but after that we really were going through them. Now we’re going through 15-20,000 pumpkins a year, and we can’t grow that many, so we just buy them,” Loren added.

It was only a few years ago that the Liebschers added a sunflower patch to the mix, taking up a few more acres covered by the pivot. “The first year they were fun and pretty, but we didn’t have a lot of visitors. This year has been different, and I think our daughter is probably the reason for that success. She has a marketing degree and it’s been unbelievable,” Kim said. “Oklahoma Tourism did a post about a ‘mystical sunflower patch.’ Now people are here all the time while they’re blooming to take photos.”

The sunflower patch is just a few acres, but the Liebschers feel it’s the perfect size. “We have found that the smaller the patch, the better people take care of it,” he said. “Plus, sunflowers are tricky. They either make it or they don’t, but this has been a very good year for them.

Read more in the October issue of Oklahoma Farm & Ranch.

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