Eureka Springs Independent

12/01/2025

🎅🎁🎄 Holiday Joy is abundant in Eureka Springs this weekend 🎄🎁🎅

For more info on this week's events, head over to www.EurekaFun.com or pick up a at any red box near you!

🌟 Silver Tea - pg 12

🌟 Christmas Makers Market - pg 13

🌟 Parade of Lights - pg 13

🌟 Movies at the AUD - pg 15

🌟 Eureka Express at ES&NA Railway - pg 14

🌟 Santa in The Park - pg 15

🌟 Christmas at the Inns - Hearth & Hospitality Tour - pg 15

🌟 Arkansas Highland Brass Band - pg 18

11/30/2025

presents Meet the Makers Arts and Crafts Show, this Friday and Saturday (12/5 - 12/6). It's a perfect opportunity to support locals AND check off your holiday shopping list.

11/29/2025

Wearing Gratitude Like a Cloak – Rumi

The week of Thanksgiving and the season of gratitude begins. The Sun is now in Sagittarius. We shifted from the waters (Scorpio) to the plains (Sagittarius); from the eagle to the horse; from the depths to seeking the heights; from the star Antares to the Galactic Center; from the opal to the topaz; from Mars to Jupiter; from Orion to Chiron; from Tuesday (Mars ruled) to Thursday (Jupiter ruled); from the sign of death and regeneration to the sign of the adventurer, riding the white horse, bow and arrow in hand, seeking the mountain tops of Capricorn.

Thanksgiving is this Thursday. It is our day of gratitude. There is a quote by Rumi that says, “Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of one’s life.” The entire autumn season from now on through Christmas calls us to focus upon gratitude – each moment of each day.

Wearing Gratitude Like a Cloak – Rumi The week of Thanksgiving and the season of gratitude begins. The Sun is now in Sagittarius. We shifted from the waters (Scorpio) to the plains (Sagittarius); f…

11/29/2025

Has anyone else experienced the high-pitched squall of a leaf blower? It’s a hand-held 2-cycle machine that pollutes more than a Ford F-150. Seriously. It simply moves leaves.

23-year-old Ukrainian biochemist Valentyn Frechka figured out how to repurpose leaves. He moved to Paris where he and his partner founded Releaf Paper, a process that uses no sulphates, sulphites or chlorine to make paper from leaves.

These guys figured out how to produce one ton of cellulose from 2 tons of dead leaves. It takes killing 17 live trees to yield that much. The men only use city leaves so to not disturb the ecosystem of the forest floor.

Four billion trees are cut every year to make paper products.

Releaf removes solid compounds from leaves, dries them, turns them into pellets that are converted into pulp and rolled into sheets of paper, a process that uses 78% percent less CO2 and 15 times less water. They have clients all over Europe.

Amazon boxes, egg cartons, toothpaste cartons, toilet paper and shopping bags could all be made from leaves we’re blowing in the wind.

Has anyone else experienced the high-pitched squall of a leaf blower? It’s a hand-held 2-cycle machine that pollutes more than a Ford F-150. Seriously. It simply moves leaves. 23-year-old Ukrainian…

11/29/2025

Can’t see the 4est for the 3s

My birth sign suggests I am easily distractible, but that’s hardly an excuse. I know there’s a point to all this, and a good place to ponder my place in the point is in the garden on a sunny November morning. Maybe that’s the point.

Before that, however, I noticed nobody had swept up the rampant dust bunnies, which occurred to me would be a good name for an alt-folk group, so I sat down to play a couple alt-folks sings. That made be me thirsty, so I set out to find my cup of coffee.

It sat dutifully beside the antique Dutch Oven full of compost. Good. That reminded me I needed to empty the compost. I also noticed last night’s pan from dinner was still soaking in the sink, but it could wait– I certainly did not want to get distracted. So I marched the Dutch Oven toward the door.

Can’t see the 4est for the 3s My birth sign suggests I am easily distractible, but that’s hardly an excuse. I know there’s a point to all this, and a good place to ponder my place in the point is i…

11/29/2025

Rain or shine! Shop Small Saturday is in full swing with ESI's resident Grinch!

Thanks to and .bnk for creating such a wonderful event!

11/28/2025

Leaning against the porch rail I pitch a ball for the dog. Decades ago, I lost my overhand perfection: the ball arcs behind me and bounces down the hill where it nests in a pile of autumn colors at the foot of a tall white pine. I suggest that the dog go fetch it. She raises an eyebrow before giving full attention to a nap. I lean harder against the rail, follow the bounces, and allow my mind to bounce along.

Bounce number one. More about spiders. The largest known spider web in a cave on the Greek Albanian border – “largest” in a measurable way, not in the bragging superlative of idiocy. An interesting spider culture: two different species co-inhabiting the same web. They do not war, neither do they help each other. They live peacefully side-by-side, both species feasting on the massive clouds of midges that also inhabit the cave.

Leaning against the porch rail I pitch a ball for the dog. Decades ago, I lost my overhand perfection: the ball arcs behind me and bounces down the hill where it nests in a pile of autumn colors at…

11/28/2025

Wilson’s Stand for Suffrage, Part III of III

Monday, September 30, 1918, dawned with news from the war front. “American guns pound foe’s last defenses,” headlined The New York Times. Troops from New York, Tennessee, and the Carolinas had attacked the Hindenburg Line “with great dash,” pressing forward through its defenses.

In Washington, a complicated Woodrow Wilson prepared to address the United States Senate, urging them—after years of refusal—to finally pass the Susan B. Anthony amendment.

“His appearance was bitterly resented by all those opposed to the amendment,” Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo recalled. But “an air of hostility, a frigid atmosphere, always heightened President Wilson’s powers. It did on this occasion.”

Wilson’s Stand for Suffrage, Part III of III Monday, September 30, 1918, dawned with news from the war front. “American guns pound foe’s last defenses,” headlined The New York Times. Troops from Ne…

11/28/2025

Pictured is Jeff Ochs from Kansas, who caught this nice rainbow with Busch Mountain Fishing Guide Service.

Beaver Tailwaters:

Cooler air is working its way back into the Ozarks this week, and the Beaver Tailwaters are settling deeper into that late-fall rhythm. Even with chillier mornings, the bite has remained steady — especially once the sun comes over the bluffs and puts a little warmth back into the water.

We’ll start the week with highs in the mid-50s, followed by rain chances and cloud cover Wednesday, then a gradual warm-up with low 60s by Thursday and Friday. Another cool-down moves in for the weekend, dropping highs back into the upper 40s to near 50. These swings should keep trout active through the more stable, warmer parts of each day.

Pictured is Jeff Ochs from Kansas, who caught this nice rainbow with Busch Mountain Fishing Guide Service. Beaver Tailwaters: Cooler air is working its way back into the Ozarks this week, and the …

11/28/2025

The mystery of economics

In high school, my economics teacher successfully encouraged me to drop his class—because I apparently just didn’t get it. And now, more than five decades later, it still boggles my mind.

Last week I read about a couple of Wyoming men who retired from the US Forest Service but still drive around taking care of things in the forest. Without pay. They love the territory, and it grieves them to see the neglect resulting from a serious reduction in staff.

They don’t fix every broken fencepost—just the particularly dangerous things that might maim or kill a visitor. Their rationale for not fixing everything—even if they could—is that they don’t want the government to presume things will get done without pay. It’s not some partisan political ploy—one of them is Republican, and the other a Democrat—but they do distribute congressional phone numbers, hoping people will call for a boost in forest service personnel.

The mystery of economics In high school, my economics teacher successfully encouraged me to drop his class—because I apparently just didn’t get it. And now, more than five decades later, it still b…

11/28/2025

Shop Small weekend goes hard in Eureka Springs ❤

What business are you looking forward to supporting?